Hunted
by Xx.LoveIsABlessing.xX
Summary: Overhauled! Hopefully improved! Sequel to 'The New Boy'. Ty/Amy Hope ya'll like it!
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1**_

_Heading to the bathroom door, heading back to Amy, that's when the smell hits my nose._

_Lavender._

'What in the world is lavender doing in a men's bathroom?'

_I turn towards the smell, curious of where it's coming from, and the distraction leaves the only opening they need. _

_A chloroform covered rag covers my mouth and nose and fingers tangle in my hair, jerking back to make me gasp. And, like an idiot, I do just that and take in a deep breath of chloroform. Instantly it zips through my system and dulls my senses, drunkening me._

_I stumble and hands grab me around my arms, jerking on them until they're behind my back. I feel the sting of ropes tied tightly around my wrists and wince._

_I growl loudly, not caring who hears me, and bare my fangs at the nearest Hunter._

_He looks so young; probably no older than Amy or me. And he's glaring at me so darkly that I'm sure he's wishing the phrase 'if looks could kill' was true._

_My vision starts to blur as the chloroform really starts to kick-in and I struggle weakly, my strength almost gone._

_I'm such an idiot, why did I go off by myself after seeing them this morning? Now all I can do is hope that I can get away._

_There's pretty much no chance I'm going to, though, as I sink to my knees. _

_One of them kneels behind me and my head is jerked back again, a gag forced into my mouth and tied tightly around my head. My hair is released once it's tied and my head lolls forward limply. I'm so weak..._

_I hear them as they talk around me, now basically holding me upright. I'm so close to being unconscious..._

_"Let's get him out of the back door. We can't let some well-meaning human see this and think we're kidnapping an innocent person." That one must be the leader. It's a middle aged looking woman, and she's taking charge._

_Two of the larger men grab my arms and haul me to my feet, pulling me towards the door of the bathroom as darkness claims my vision._

_This is happening so fast... _

**_H_**

_My head hurts so badly... The smell of lavender is so strong I think I'm literally going to be sick. I can feel my stomach rolling._

_My ankles are tied now... I can feel the ropes cutting into my skin; they're tied so tight..._

_I slowly force my eyes open; my vision's so blurry. I feel like everything is moving so slowly, including my own thoughts. It takes me a few minutes to realize that I must be in a moving vehicle._

'Where am I?' _I wonder, my limp body swaying slightly as the vehicle takes a turn._

_I swallow thickly as my stomach rolls again._

_Suddenly fingers tangle in my hair and I squeeze my eyes shut against the pain as my head is lifted by my hair. I feel something slip around my throat before my hair is released and a new pain rings in my head as I hit the floor. I swallow._

_There's a collar around my neck now; I'm even less than a dog to these people, I'm a disease to mankind that needs to be cured._

_I can hear them talking but it's muffled. I strain, trying to understand what they're saying. _

_I finally catch a snatch of the conversation in my drunkened state._

_"So instead of killing him, we're going to sell him and make a profit?"_

_My eyes widen and my heart pounds in fear. _'No!'

_"That's right. He's worth more alive than dead, lucky for him." The leader says._

_I let my eyes close, and all I can feel is fear. I might never see Amy again..._

'I'm so sorry, Amy. I love you.' _If only I could tell her one last time..._

_I swallow hard._

_Suddenly my head is slammed into the floor and a wet rag covers my mouth and nose._

_No, not again! _

_I struggle as best as I can; my attempts are patheic. I have no strength to fight them off with._

_My head spins and I give one final kick, then let the darkness have me..._

_**H**_

A lone figure occupied a cell, bound wrists trapped high over his head and his feet barely touching the floor.

Everything on him hurt; his shoulders were sore from hanging, his back hurt from the whipping he'd taken earlier, his head was pounding, and his stomach was rolling from hunger.

_'How long have they had me now?' _He wondered to himself.

It had been almost a week since his kidnapping; surely it wouldn't be long before they would find a buyer for him, there had already been someone there to look at him that day.

He trembled at the memory, the humiliation of being forced out of his clothing and trapped to an examination table, then the man's cold touch as he'd looked him over to see if he would be of use to him.

It was in that exam that he'd gotten in trouble and been beaten... The man had wanted to see his fangs and so he, Ty, had snapped them at him. Instantly, his captors had jerked him from the table, strapped him to a wall, and whipped him.

The lashes on his back were healing much slower than they should have been. He needed to drink; his thirst was getting to the point of driving him mad. Normally he would be fine going for almost a month without blood, but they'd made him lose so much of his own... He was starving!

Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, Ty forced his head up, growling at the sight of the two Hunters coming to his cell.

"You'd be smart to mind who you're growling at, bloodsucker." The biggest one, a large man with dark red hair and a long beard snapped at him.

Ty bared his fangs, hissing at them aggressively as they opened the cell door.

All his bravado got him was a fist to his jaw, making his head crack back and hit the wall. He hissed in pain.

"We were going to feed you, but apparently you aren't hungry." The woman, the leader, said.

Ty glared at the ground, his thirst making his pupils elongate and look like long, thin diamonds. He swallowed thickly.

"I thought as much. Now, in order for you to make someone a good pet, and yes we have a buyer lined up for you, you need to be in peak shape. So from now until you are with your new mistress you'll be on a strict diet and exercise program." The leader said.

Ty glanced at her from the corner of his eye, "My buyer is a woman?"

"Yes. She, like so many other idiots, finds your appearance appealing." The woman shook her head in disgust and dread coiled in Ty's stomach.

"I will not become someones play thing!" Ty snapped, his eyes flashing.

"You'll become whatever she wishes you to be. If she wishes you to be a lover, that's what you'll be." The man muttered.

Ty grimaced, "Why would you sell me to someone who wants to do _that _with me? She's human, you want my kind to have nothing to do with humans and she wants to use me as a freaking toy, do you not see that as sick?"

"Yes we do, but to each their own. She offered the most for you." The leader said and turned to the man with her. "Feed him."

The man nodded and walked over to Ty, reaching up and taking a firm hold on his collar, choking him slightly, as he reached up with his other hand and undid Ty's restraints. He felt his feet hit the ground and sighed in content, lowering his arms and feeling his shoulders nearly scream with relief. He let his arms be pulled behind his back and shackled.

The man took a firm hold on his shackles and pushed him forward. Ty went forward, eager to finally have something to eat. His stomach growled and the man rolled his eyes.

"If it was up to me you'd be dead right now, not going to be some woman's new sex toy." The man muttered, low enough so that only Ty could hear him.

Ty's stomach twisted and he swallowed. He looked over his shoulder at the man.

"If it helps any, I have a beautiful girlfriend that I'd much rather be a toy to, but you took her away from me." He said and the man glared at him.

"Shut up and walk." He snapped and shoved into Ty's back, making him stumble forward a step.

After a short walk past other, empty cells, the man steered Ty to the left and into a room that had a large stone table in the middle. Ty eyed the shackles on it warily as the man made him stop beside it.

"Strap down." The man grunted and unshackled Ty's wrists.

He swallowed as he noticed the three other Hunters entering the room behind him.

_'Making sure I don't stand a chance of escape.' _Ty thought.

"Lay down." The red head man ordered and Ty reluctantly laid his body out on the large stone table, raising his arms over his head and wincing as the cold steel of the shackles closed around his ankles and wrists.

The man then put a straw to Ty's lips and he eagerly clamped to it, drawing on it. He watched with hungry eyes as the stream of dark red came through the straw. He closed his eyes as it finally entered his mouth.

The Hunters all wrinkled their noses in disgust as Ty drank. He paid them no mind, he was too busy trying to get as much of the blood as he could before they pulled him up.

They let him drink for ten minutes and by the time they finally pulled the straw from him and ordered him up, Ty felt like a tick.

The smallest form of content he'd had since being taken, Ty walked back to his cell with no complaint, letting his body digest the nutrients it'd just taken in.

He was shackled back to the wall and waited until the Hunters were out of sight before groaning miserably.

_'Amy, I miss you so much...'_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

"Amy, it's all going to be okay. You can't let yourself get sick like this, how are you going to help Ty at this rate? We're going to find him, and you have to be strong until we do." Soraya rubbed Amy's back comfortingly as she held back her hair, preventing it from getting in the way as Amy vomitted.

Amy gagged before taking a wet rag and wiping off her face, "I can't help it, Soraya! I know that they're hurting him and I can't help him! It's killing me!" She said.

Soraya helped her to her feet and she flushed the toilet before walking over to the sink and picking up her tooth brush and tooth paste.

It had been like this ever since the Hunters had kidnapped Ty almost a week ago. Each day he was gone Amy seemed to get a little bit worse; she was barely getting any sleep and couldn't hold down her meals. The teachers had started noticing and had started asking her things like if she was alright, was there anything they could do, and things like that. They'd also noticed Ty's sudden disappearance and had come to the conclusion that he and Amy had broken up and that was why she was so sick.

Amy tiredly brushed her teeth and rinsed out her mouth. Once she was done, she took a good look at the girl in the mirror that was looking back at her.

The girl in the mirror was pale, with eyes that were red rimmed and blood shot. Her hair was a tangled mess from thrashing around in her sleep from nightmares. She looked so tired.

Amy sighed and bowed her head forward, reaching up to tangle a hand in her hair.

"It's going to be okay, Ames. Ty's strong, remember? We'll get him back." Soraya said and Amy nodded, lifting her head to smile weakly at her friend.

"I know, I'm just so scared that they're going to change him." She whispered.

Soraya frowned, "Change him?"

Amy nodded, "Who comes through something like this unscarred?"

Realization dawned on Soraya, "You think he'll be different than he was before, like he won't like humans anymore or something? Or that he won't love you?"

Amy winced and Soraya shook her head in disbelief.

"Amy Fleming! I can't believe you would think that about Ty! He loves you, and yes something like this probably is going to leave him a little different than he was before but can you blame him for that? I am not trying to scare you, Ames, but we don't know what's being done to him. He's sure to be at least a tiny bit different when we get him back, but he'll still love you." Soraya said, pulling her friend to her for a hug.

Amy swallowed, "Thanks, Raya."

Soraya nodded, "Now, let's get you cleaned up and we'll go eat before we start our search again."

Amy grimaced, putting a hand to her stomach, "Food might not be a good idea right now."

"It's almost sundown and you haven't eaten since breakfast. Some soup will go down easy and help you feel better." Soraya said and gently pushed Amy to the shower.

Sighing, Amy nodded and undressed for her shower while Soraya went to pick her out something to wear.

Stepping under the shower's warm spray, Amy tilted her head up and let the water rush over her face, letting her cry tears she'd run out of hours ago.

All she wanted was Ty back. She _needed_ him back.

Pulling her head out of the water, Amy opened her eyes and looked heavenward.

_'Lord, please help me get Ty back. I beg you...'_

_**H**_

The sounds of snapping teeth and enraged hissing came from his cell as Ty kicked out hard at the man that was trying to subdue him.

"You little son of a -!" The man pulled back, holding his hand tight to his chest as blood trickled from the bite Ty had inflicted.

Ty hissed at him, pupils slitted and fangs out. He was panting from the energy he was having to exort but he was going to make this Hunter back off if it killed him. He was so sick of being their victim! Now that he had a little bit of his strength back, he wanted to make them pay for what they were putting him and his loved ones through, and that called for lots of attitude.

"I'll beat you bloody you little punk." The man snapped at him.

"Try it! Get that close to me!" Ty snarled and snapped his fangs in warning.

The man's face was red in fury as he turned and stormed out of the cell, going to treat his injured hand.

"Be lucky I didn't put any venom into it you sorry jerk! I could've killed you so easily!" Ty yelled after him.

Panting heavily, he let his tense body relax and closed his eyes. He knew he'd get it later for attacking the Hunter, but right now he just felt so good that he'd finally landed a blow against the man who'd repeatedly beat him that he really didn't care. He had that little taste of payback and he planned on getting a lot more before he got out of there.

Hearing approaching footsteps, Ty opened his eyes to glare at the men that were now entering his cell.

"Three of you all on one guy? Seems pretty pathetic to me." He growled and they all eyed him warily.

"Seems that this one shouldn't be sold out just yet, still too aggressive." The first man, one with glasses, said to the two with him.

Ty rolled his eyes in exasperation, "If you're going to talk about me like I'm no more than a dog or something, please take your pathetic excuses for lives elsewhere to do it."

"Excuse you?" One of them snapped at him.

"I'm well aware that you heard me. Growing up I was taught to avoid you Hunters, to even fear you. But there's nothing to fear from you; you're nothing more than a bunch of pathetic humans who're too scared to allow something to be higher on the food chain than you." Ty said and smirked as the three men glared at him.

"No more meals for this one." One man said and Ty snorted.

"Like you were going to feed me anyway." He muttered.

The three looked at him another moment before leaving the cell, shutting the metal door behind them hard enough that it vibrated.

Ty let his body relax again and closed his eyes, wondering, once again, where he was and when he would be able to get free. He hoped that Amy, Soraya, and Matt were alright.

_'I'm away from them now, the Hunters have me, so surely they wouldn't go after them too, right?' _Ty wondered, his fear that the Hunters would go after Amy and his friends for hiding and protecting him coming to the surface.

Thinking of Amy, Ty smiled softly to himself, remembering the last moments he'd had with her; how happy she'd been and how much love he'd felt from her. He remembered the ring he'd bought for her, which the Hunters had taken from him. The thought made fresh anger race through his blood; that was Amy's ring. It wasn't for them to take.

The sounds of angry foosteps returning to his cell had Ty's eyes snapping open. He braced himself for what he knew he had coming as the group of Hunters got closer and closer to his cell.

He couldn't stop his eyes from widening in horror at what one of them held as they appeared outside his cell.

_**H**_

"See? I told you that the soup would help. And it's staying down!" Soraya said, sitting next to Amy at a small dinner in town. Across from them in the booth sat Matt, who was watching Amy worriedly.

"Ames, Ty's stronger than they think he is. I bet he's giving them all kinds of heck right now!" Matt said in an attempt to cheer her up.

She smiled at him weakly, "Thanks, Matt. I owe you and Raya big. If it weren't for you two I'd be ten feet under in a deep, dark hole."

"Not while we're around buddy, and when we find those Hunters we're going to make them pay so bad for all the suffering they've put you through." Soraya said, hugging Amy tightly.

Amy hugged her back and turned back to the bowl of soup in front of her. She picked up her spoon and took it into her mouth, letting the warm juice slide down her throat as she chewed the chicken and noodles. A thought occured to her and she swallowed the bite.

"Oh, Matt, have you seen anyone going into Ty's room lately? Like maybe cleaning staff or something?" Amy asked.

Since Matt lived only a few doors down from Ty's room, he'd volunteered to watch over Ty's door. When the Hunter's had taken Ty, he'd had his room key on him and so Amy and Matt had figured that they might try to raid Ty's room. The other room key was with Amy, who would occassionally go over and check on things to make sure the Hunters hadn't snuck in.

Matt frowned. "I haven't noticed anyone, why?"

"Yesterday when I went into the room, some things had been moved around a little bit. I mean, not much, just a tiny bit." Amy said.

"You think the Hunters went in? Wouldn't they have trashed the place, or started a fire or something?" Soraya asked.

"See that's just it, I don't think it was the Hunters. I think it was someone who may have known Ty. They left a photo album on his pillow and it was all kinds of pictures of Ty. There were even pictures of him and his parents." Amy said.

Matt looked surprised, "Like maybe another vampire went into the room?"

"It would have to be. In some of the photos, Ty had his fangs out. There were a bunch of pictures of him with other vampires." Amy said quietly.

"So it must have been someone from one of the pictures?" Soraya offered.

"I guess so. It hadn't been there long. I mean, I feel like maybe whoever was there and looking around, I interrupted their search or whatever they were doing." Amy said.

Soraya and Matt looked at her in alarm.

"Do you think they could have still been in the room when you went in?" Matt asked.

Amy shrugged, "That's possible, or they went out of the window seconds before or something."

"That really could have turned out bad. They could have mistook _you_ for a Hunter and attacked you, Ames." Soraya said worriedly and Amy shrugged.

"Well if they had that chance they didn't. I don't know what they were doing." Amy said. She took another bite of her soup, thinking to herself.

If it had been another vampire that had been in Ty's room that day, what were they doing there? And who were they?


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

_Everything hurts so bad... A few more beatings like that and I won't make it out of here..._

_As they drag my body back to my cell, I'm out of it; barely clinging to consciousness. My body is screaming in so much pain that I don't even notice when they make sure to throw me against the wall when we get back to my cell._

_They let me lay on the ground and use the ankle chains to bind my wrists to the wall. I'm sure they're doing this so I'll be sore tomorrow; a beating that was as bad as _that_ one was coupled with sleeping on a freezing cold stone floor will take a lot of fight out of a vampire is their thinking._

_The sad part is there at least a little bit right. I'm sure not going to feel like fighting tomorrow. I'll be lucky if I can even get up off this floor tomorrow._

_Again the thought occurs to me to just let go, to let my body give in to the abuse and shut down. I'd see my family again, countless friends that I've lost to the Hunters... But I'd lose Amy and I can't do that. I just can't..._

_Seeing her again is what's keeping me going. I just pray that I see her soon..._

_**H**_

"Wake up you pathetic little blood sucker."

Cold water thrown over his form had Ty jolting awake. He looked around in alarm before his eyes landed on the Hunter that he'd bitten the day before.

The man smirked at him, "Was that little bite worth it?"

Ty glared at him weakly, well aware that he was in a vulnerable position; on his back on the ground with his arms trapped over his head. He'd be unable to defend himself if the man chose to attack him.

"You look like hell." The man chuckled happily and Ty found himself wondering how someone could find another living creature's pain and suffering so amusing.

Ty was well aware that he was covered in gashes, burns, and bruises that would take longer to heal because of his lack of nutrition. He couldn't even find the strength to speak.

"Oh, and guess what? We gave your buyer another vampire since you're having 'aggression issues' so you'll be with us even longer to get those issues sorted out." The man's eyes flashed sadistically and a tremble ran through Ty's frame at the thought.

Someone whistled and the man looked back out of the cell before turning to Ty and grinning.

"Well, I have to go. New arrivals. Maybe you'll have a cell mate soon, who knows? It's always fun to put two starving vampires together in a cell." The man said and walked away cackling, chilling Ty to his core.

His heart started pounding. With the shape he was in, another vampire could easily make a meal of him and he knew their captors would like nothing more than to watch another vampire devour him. They'd probably be sure to put a large, starving male vampire in with him and leave him like he was so he couldn't defend himself when his cell mate snapped.

Ty closed his eyes in a fearful prayer, _'Please be with me, Lord, it's only through You that I'll live through this!'_

_**H**_

"So this is the photo album?" Soraya asked, picking up the small, but thick, book and flipping through it. Each page was only big enough for one picture, all of which were in color.

Soraya smiled softly at a picture of Ty as an infant, easily recognized by his eyes as he grinned happily at the camera, the tips of his fangs already visible in the picture. In the bottom left hand corner in golden script typing read: _Ty Age : 5 Months._

"How was he such a little baby?" Soraya asked in disbelief as she looked at the next picture, were Ty was the same age. In it he was sitting next to a dog, a blue heeler, and the dog dwarfed him.

"That was what I was thinking, actually. Ty's a big guy, but he was a little bitty baby." Amy smiled softly to herself, sitting on Ty's bed and watching her friends as they flipped through the album.

She was still wondering who it was that had left it. Had they still been in the room that day? If so, why hadn't they said anything?

Amy wished so badly that she had some way of getting in touch with them to see if they could help her find Ty. She needed all the help she could get.

She sighed and laid down on Ty's bed, snuggling into his pillow like she so often did.

Soraya and Matt glanced at her worriedly before turning back to the album, freezing as they came to a picture of Ty and his parents.

"Ty's parents look so... sweet. There's no way they deserved to die." Soraya whispered. Matt nodded mutely beside her.

In the picture, Ty was a newborn, bundled up in a fluffy blue blanket with a typical blue baby hat on his young woman holding him was smiling proudly at the camera, fangs out and her eyes a bright blue in color, her shoulder length hair dark brown in color. The man standing beside her with his arms around her was taller than her by a good foot. His eyes were the emeralds that Ty himself had and he had the same dark brown hair. The happy smile on his face was full of pride for his family.

Soraya felt tears fill her eyes as she looked through the pictures, pictures of Ty being held by his grandparents and older cousins and aunts and uncles, and she saw just what all the Hunters had taken from Ty over the years.

_'This was a family. A normal, loving family, and those monsters ripped it apart. All because they aren't human.' _Soraya shook her head and reached up to wipe her eyes, more determined than ever to find Ty and get him back to Amy, back where he belonged.

Matt put an arm Soraya and pressed his lips to her forehead gently. She leaned into his embrace and swallowed.

"They didn't deserve what those Hunters did to them." Soraya whispered.

"No they didn't now." Matt agreed.

They both looked to Amy in surprise as she suddenly got up from the bed and went towards the door.

"I'm going to stay in here tonight so I'm going to go change into my pajamas." Amy whispered, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Alone? Amy, what if the other vampire comes back?" Soraya asked, closing the photo album and putting it down gently on the couch before standing, Matt beside her.

"It'll be okay. I hope they do, I want to talk to them and see if they can help us find Ty." Amy said, putting her hand on the doorknob and making sure she had picked up her key from the bedside table. It was safe and sound in her pocket.

"We'll stay in here with you then, so you aren't alone." Matt said and Soraya nodded.

Amy smiled at them softly, "You don't have to do that. We don't know who this person is, they might not be that nice."

"Too bad. You stay, we stay. Come on, Matt, time to get dressed for bed." Soraya said and walked over to the door to stand beside Amy.

Amy sighed, "Thanks, guys. Hopefully whoever this is will show back up and talk to us."

"It'll definitely be interesting to meet another vampire." Matt said quietly.

"It's kind of scary, a little. We're use to Ty and how he acts, but how will a different vampire act?" Soraya said.

"Hopefully we'll find out tonight." Amy said and opened the door, leading the way out and letting Matt shut the door behind them.

Heading back to their dorm, both Amy and Soraya were lost in their own thoughts about what it would be like to meet a vampire other than Ty.

_'Whatever it takes to find Ty.' _Amy thought to herself.

_'I'm sure they'll be nice like Ty is. I mean, if they're friends with him then surely they don't mind humans either, right?' _Soraya wondered.

Reaching their room, Amy pulled out her keys and unlocked the door, going inside.

The first thing she and Soraya noticed was the open window. They froze.

"We haven't even cracked the windows in weeks." Soraya said, taking a step back out of the room and putting a hand on Amy's arm to pull her out as well. Amy swallowed and let her eyes scan the darkness of the room. They landed on something new.

"There's something on my bed." Amy said, pointing to her pillow.

Cautiously, the two stepped into the room, flicking on the lights and looking around, checking the bathroom and closets, before shutting the door and then the window, locking it back.

Amy picked up the folded up sheet of paper and sat down on her bed, unfolding it and reading the neat hand writing of their visitor.

_**So you're the girl that Ty was so hung up on. You scared the mess out of me that night I was in Ty's room and you walked in. **_

_**I hate to admit it but I kind of eavesdropped on your conversation with your friends tonight. Yes, I was still in the room when you were in there. I left after you did.**_

_**Yes, I am an old friend of Ty's and I left the photo album. It's Ty's, I've been meaning to give it back to him for a long time now. **_

_**I had heard, like so many people from the hometown that Ty and I share, that the Hunters got him and I was hoping it wasn't true. So it is, huh? It kills me to know that they got him, they've put him through so much already.**_

_**Please let me help you find him. Growing up he was like a brother to me, I can't just stand by and let them do this to him. Please.**_

_**Just write back to me and leave it anywhere. I'll find it.**_

_**I miss Ty and I want to see him back safely, please let me help.**_

Amy looked to Soraya as she finished reading the letter.

"Well what does it say?" Soraya asked and Amy silently held the note out to her friend so she could read it before reaching into her bedside table and pulling out her notebook. She pulled out a pen, noticing how her hand was shaking from the shock and excitement of finding Ty's friend.

She quickly wrote a reply.

_**Please, please help us find him! We've searched and searched and have no idea where they could have taken him.**_

_**I'm sorry for scaring you that night, I had no idea you would be in Ty's room. Thank you so much for coming forward, we were going to stay in Ty's room and hope that you showed up again so we could ask for your help.**_

_**I love Ty with all my heart, knowing that they have him and are hurting him is killing me. Please help us get him back. Thank you!**_

_**Amy**_

Ripping the paper out of her notebook, Amy folded it over and laid it where the first letter had been before putting her notebook, open to a fresh page, and the pen beside the letter. She then jumped up and hurried to her closet, hurriedly dressing in her pajamas.

Seeing Amy's hurry, Soraya quickly did the same.

Once Soraya had finished changing, Amy went over to the window and threw it open, looking out into the night around the school and wondering if Ty's friend could see her.

She turned from the window and went over to stand by Soraya by the door.

"Do you think they'll come back tonight?" Soraya asked, handing Amy the first letter.

Amy gently folded it and tucked it into her pocket, "Yes I do. I think they're out there waiting for us to leave right now so let's go."

Nodding, Soraya pulled the door open and stepped out. Amy turned back one last time to look at the open window before going out and shutting the door behind her.

Hearing the door shut, a waiting figure from a window below the girls reached up and got a grip on the window ledge, pulling themselves up and into the window...


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4 **_

_Someone else is in here. I can hear them moving around. Is this the cell mate that they Hunters hope is going to kill me?_

_With how weak I am, I can't tell where they are, just that they're in here. I'm so out of it, they could be about to pierce my throat and I wouldn't realize it 'til it was too late._

_If I could just open my eyes... I have to see who this is..._

The first thing Ty's blurry vision saw when he finally managed to open his eyes were two terrified brown orbs, staring at him like he was going to jump up and attack.

He blinked a few times to try and fix his vision and was shocked when his vision adjusted and he could see who his new cell mate was.

The boy was tiny, and looked ready to pass out from fear. His eyes were brown, his hair short and black. He looked like he was six or seven. He had huddled into the corner farthest from Ty and was watching the larger male's every move.

Ty pooled his strength and managed a tiny, raspy and painful whisper, "Who are you?"

The little boy dropped his eyes to the floor, "Lukas."

Ty swallowed as best he could, being careful with every move he made so he wouldn't threaten the child. "I'm Ty."

Lukas looked up timidly and let his eyes meet Ty's, "They said you were going to eat me."

Anger shot through Ty's body, "Never." He managed.

"You sound tired. Are you hurting?" Lukas asked, shuffling a little bit closer.

"Yes." Ty whispered, letting his eyes close.

Panic streaked through Lukas and he crawled over to Ty, "Please don't die! Please! You're the only one that's been nice to me!"

Ty tiredly forced his eyes open and looked up at Lukas, seeing tears lining the boy's eyes. He forced himself to speak.

"It's okay, Lukas... I'm not dying." He whispered, forcing a pained smile for the smaller male.

"You're sure?" Lukas asked, shivering gently.

Ty nodded, "Yes. Promise."

Lukas nodded, accepting what he had said, and they both jumped as someone swung open the door to the cell and the leader, the older woman, walked in.

Whimpering, Lukas laid beside Ty and burried his face into what remained of Ty's ruined shirt, trying to hide. Ty glanced at him before looking up at the woman, worried that they would try to take Lukas.

"You need to be fed so you will heal." The woman stated and Ty noticed the Hunter standing behind her with bags of blood. His mouth nearly watered but he shook his head.

"Lukas first." He whispered.

The woman raised an eyebrow and little Lukas lifted his eyes to look at Ty gratefully.

"You want us to feed the child first?" She asked.

"Yes." Ty whispered. He bit back the 'ma'am' he'd almost let slip between his lips. He'd been raised to respect women, but he would not show any respect to a Hunter. No.

Much to Ty's surprise, the woman nodded, "Very well. Feed the child, then feed the larger male." She ordered and turned, leaving the cell and vanishing from sight.

The Hunter stepped forward and tossed two bags to Lukas, who grabbed them and eagerly sank his small fangs into one. The Hunter wrinkled his nose in disgust before tossing the other bags, four in all, to the cell floor and turning, shutting the cell door behind him as he left.

Lukas drank the two bags he'd been given and sighed before smiling timidly at Ty, "Full."

Ty smiled at him softly, "I'm glad."

Lukas gathered up the rest of the bags and sat beside Ty, offering him one. Ty, still trapped on his back on the floor, bit into the bag and drank slowly, both savoring the taste and to keep from choking himself in his less than appropriate position. Lukas surprised Ty a little bit as he held the bag patiently until Ty had drained it, then tossed it aside and offered the second bag. He did this until each bag was empty and Ty was full and fighting to keep his eyes open. He was so tired and his newly fed state made him that much more drowsy.

Lukas cautiously laid down beside him, watching Ty closely for any sign of rejection, and again snuggled into his side, "Nap?"

Ty smiled at him softly, and when he spoke his voice was stronger, "Sounds good to me."

Lukas smiled at him, hearing the strength returning to his new friend, before laying his head carefully on Ty's injured chest and going to sleep. Ty watched him sleep a long moment, remembering when he had been Lukas's age; back then his biggest worry had been what he and his friends could get away with doing without getting a whooping. He doubted Lukas had had too much of a carefree childhood.

Sighing sadly to himself, Ty let his eyes close and drifted off to sleep.

_**H**_

"This is just... Wow." Was all Matt could say after reading the letter that Ty's friend had left for Amy to find. He lifted his eyes from the paper to look to the girls, "So what now?"

"Well Ames left a reply so I guess we'll know something soon." Soraya said and shrugged.

"Are you just going to wait until morning to go see if you have a reply?" Matt asked.

"I don't see why we would have to. I mean, it's not like they're going to look through our stuff. They want to find Ty, not be nosy." Amy said.

"So we could perhaps go check in a little bit?" Soraya asked.

Amy tilted her head in thought and nodded, "We could probably go now and they'd be gone."

"This soon?" Matt asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"Yes." Amy said and stood from the bed, going to the door. She was too excited to wait; the sooner they met Ty's friend the sooner they could start looking for him.

Soraya and Matt jumped up to follow her, shutting the door to Ty's room behind them. They followed after Amy as she went back to the girld dorm, her heart pounding in her chest.

_'What if they're still in there? Maybe they're waiting for us?' _The thought made Amy quicken her pace to get to the room faster. Matt and Soraya hurried to keep up as Amy practically ran to the girls' dorm.

Reaching the room, Amy took a breath before unlocking the door and pushing it open.

The window was closed, the lights left off. And on Amy's pillow, a folded piece of paper sat.

Running to her bed, Amy grabbed it and carefully unfolded it while Soraya flicked on the lights and looked around the room, Matt beside her. A check of the bathroom and closets turned up no new person, again.

"I guess they left through the door?" Soraya wondered, checking the window and seeing that it had been locked after being closed.

"They would have had to. I guess. I mean, they can't lock the window behind them." Matt said, looking over at Amy as she looked at the paper.

_**Thank you for accepting my help. I'm glad that Ty found someone who loves him so much.**_

_**Tomorrow I'll wait at the little dinner in town at noon, easy time, right? I'll buy you guys some lunch, how's that? And I can offer what I know about where Ty could be.**_

_**Hope to see you then.**_

"Well what do they say now?" Soraya asked, going to her bed and sitting down, watching Amy curiously.

"They're going to be at the dinner in town at noon tomorrow. Lunch is on them." Amy said and sat on her bed, looking closely at the letter in her hand.

"So we're going, right?" Matt asked, glancing at the window as he wondered if Ty's friend was watching them. He lifted his hand in a small just in case they were.

"Of course we are!" Soraya said, "This is a good lead to help find Ty."

Amy nodded and stood, taking the two letters and carefully putting them into her pocket. "Are we still going to sleep in Ty's room? The sooner I get to bed the sooner I get to wake up and meet this person."

Hearing the excitement back in Amy's voice for the first time since Ty had vanished, Soraya and Matt grinned at her.

"Bed time folks!" Soraya said, jumping up. She grinned at Amy and Matt, "We got a big day ahead of us tomorrow!"


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5**_

Getting to the dinner a few minutes early, Amy, Matt, and Soraya went inside and silently slipped into a booth, leaving the seat beside Amy open.

Each of them were scanning the crowd of people in the dinner, wondering which of them was the vampire that they were waiting for.

They didn't have to wait long before a young man about Ty's height, dressed in a pair of jeans and brown boots with a plain white T-shirt, walked up the booth and sat down beside Amy, glancing over the three of them quickly with blue eyes. His hair was short and blonde, his body type like Ty's; athletically slim and muscled.

"You're Ty's friend?" Amy asked quietly, watching him closely.

He offered her his hand, "I'm Ben, and yes, I'm Ty's friend."

Amy shook his hand, "No offense, but prove it."

Ben looked at her in surprise, "Care to explain?"

"Fangs, let see 'em." Soraya said quietly, leaning forward to rest her folded arms on the table. Matt nodded beside her.

"Have to make sure you aren't one those Hunters, Ty was worried they'd come after us for protecting him." Matt explained.

Ben smiled at the three of them, surprising them, "Good thinking, making me prove _what_ I am." He carefully hid his mouth behind his hand so that only the three around him could see as he parted his lips and showed sharpening canines and incisors that finally finished growing to be almost an inch long for the canines. He retracted his fangs before he spoke next, "Anymore questions?"

"Sorry, we just want to be careful." Amy said.

"Of course. I applaude you for that." Ben said and glanced to his left as the waitress appeared to give them menues so they could order. "Lunch is on me, remember." He added as he opened his menu and looked at what the dinner offered.

"We can't let you do that. You're helping us out a lot by just being willing to help." Matt said, Amy and Soraya nodding.

Ben's blue eyes mett Matt's over the top of his menu, "The way I see it, I owe you guys. Like I said in the letter, I see Ty as a brother, and you tried to keep him safe from the Hunters. The least I can do is buy you something to eat."

Soraya glanced down sadly, "We miss him."

Amy decided she'd get a chicken strip basket and shut her menu, looking to Ben as he seemed to make his own decision an shut his ment, then met her gaze. He smiled at her softly.

"The last time I talke to Ty was right after he started at your school. I had tried everything to keep him from going, but he was so determined to go to that school. I knew the Hunters would find him if he went, and he did too. But he felt like something was waiting for him there, then he met you. The last time we spoke, he was already in love with you and he'd only known you two days." Ben said quietly and tears filled Amy's eyes.

"Really?" She whispered.

Ben nodded, "Yeah. He wanted me to meet you, and I was actually supposed to come visit him next month, but then this happened."

Amy smiled despite her tears, "Well, you've met me. I'm glad I'm getting to meet you, I just wish it was under better circumstances."

"Ain't that the truth." Ben sighed and smiled at her sadly before looking up as at the waitress returned. He smiled at her charmingly and she smiled back at him.

"What can I get you?" She asked him.

"Hamburger please with a water." He said and she reluctantly shifted her gaze to Amy, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"A chicken strip basket with a water." Amy said and the eyes shifted to Matt.

"Hamburger and water." Matt said and on to Soraya went the eyes.

"A small salad and water." Soraya ordered and the waitress nodded, picking up their menues before smiling sweetly at Ben.

"It'll be out in just a bit." She said and walked away.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Ben looked to the three around him, hooking his thumb towards the waitress, "That would be one dumb Hunter. Didn't even realize what I am."

He grinned as their mouths dropped.

"You mean that girl is a Hunter?" Soraya asked.

Ben nodded, "Yes she is. And she's going to help us find Ty."

"How?" Matt asked.

"Face it, when girls think a guy's cute, she'll say just about anything he wants. And I just took a peak into what she was thinking. I'm safe, she has no idea I'm vamp, but she does have a general idea of where a vampire holding facility is around here." Ben said quietly.

"So how are you going to get her to tell you?" Soraya asked suspiciously.

"Won't be hard once I can get her alone and compel her." Ben said, smirking.

"Being alone with her, are you sure?" Amy asked in alarm, not liking the idea of Ben being alone with the Hunter. She had already lost Ty, the least she could do was keep his friend from getting taken, too.

"I'll be fine." Ben said, shrugging. He grinned as the three around him sent him worried looks, "Relax, on guard and everything."

"How long do you think it'd take to compel her?" Matt asked.

"All I have to do is get her to look me right in the eyes, its not hard. Won't take more than a few seconds before she's spilling anything I ask for." Ben said.

"She won't realize what you did and get you busted?" Soraya asked.

Ben shook his head, "I'll erase myself from her memory. No problem."

"If you're so sure, but at least let one of us be close by just in case, please." Amy said and Ben smiled softly.

"Sure." He agreed.

"So, when are you going to do this?" Matt asked.

"Well," Ben cut off as the waitress came out of the kitchen with their order. He sent them a grin and when the waitress appeared at their table smiled his best smile at her. She smiled back at him.

"What's your name, I don't think I caught it when you took our orders?" Ben asked and she grinned, tossing long black hair over her shoulder.

"It's Annabelle." She said.

"Well, Annabelle, would you be up for giving a poor fool a chance at having dinner with you tonight?" Ben asked, placing a hand over his heart and winking at her.

Amy, Soraya, and Matt saw it in Annabelle's eyes as she fell for Ben's charms. She smiled at him flirtaciously.

"Depends on where we'd be eating, I'm no low maintenance girl." She said, letting her eyes run over the blonde male.

"You don't seem like you would be. There's a nice Italian restuarant in the next town, how's that?" Ben asked.

"Sounds good. I get off at 6, so how about you come by my house at 8 and pick me up?" Annabelle said sweetly.

Ben grinned, "Sounds perfect, babe."

Annabelle giggled and Amy exchanged glances with Matt and Soraya.

Annabelle pulled her order pad out of her apron and wrote her address down, ripping off the sheet and handing it to Ben.

"Don't be late, sexy." She said before turning to walk off, leaving them to their meals.

"Dear Lord, she is something else." Ben shuddered and turned to his food.

"What do you mean?" Soraya asked, raising an eyebrow at Ben as he popped a frie into his mouth.

He chewed quickly and swallowed before saying, "Her thoughts. She wanted to skip the meal and go straight to the bed. Yuck! What is wrong with girls these days? She's known me not even five minutes!"

Amy and Soraya laughed and Matt snickered.

"Well, take a hit for the team man, at least you'll get the info easy." Matt said and Ben snorted.

"More than easy. But she is _not _touching me!" Ben said and shuddered again at the thought, making Amy and her friends exchange grins.

Yeah, it was easy to see Ben and Ty being best friends.

Amy turned to her food and took a bite, chewing thoughtfully as her thought swirled with excitement.

They would find Ty soon, she could just feel it!

_'We're almost to you, Ty, just keep hanging on. I love you so much...'_

_**H**_

"Stop it! You're hurting him!" Lukas exclaimed, horrified as Ty was dragged roughly to his feet and shoved back into the wall repeatedly by two different Hunters.

"Shut it you little brat!" One snapped and kicked out at Lukas, who recoiled with a whimper.

"He's a child!" Ty snarled as he was pulled to stand once again.

The Hunter got into his face, "_It _is a blood sucking monster, just like _you_."

Ty hissed in warning and was shoved back into the wall again, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. Laughing, the two Hunters left the cell and shut the door behind them. Once they were gone, Lukas hurried to Ty's side.

"Are you okay?" He asked worried, his eyes wide.

Ty nodded silently, regaining his breath. He looked at Lukas after a moment and smiled softly, "Yeah, I'm fine little buddy."

"Why do they hate us so much?" Lukas whispered, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around his legs.

Ty pushed himself into a sitting position with a small wince and put an arm around Lukas's shoulders, "Because we scare them. We're stronger and higher on this thing called the Food Chain and they don't like that. They like being at the top."

Lukas looked up at them, "Is it because we drink blood that we're higher on the Food Chain?"

Ty smiled softly, "Not quite."

"Then what?" Lukas asked curiously, sitting up straight and looking at Ty intently.

"Well, I already said how we're stronger. We're also faster and smarter. They hate that. And you know we have our venom?" Ty asked.

Lukas nodded that he knew.

"Well they don't have that and it scares them that we do." Ty said, grinning as Lukas's eyes widened in wonder.

"They don't?" He asked.

"Nope." Ty said.

"So, is that why they scream so much when they get bit?" Lukas asked.

"That's part of it, yes." Ty said and Lukas looked back down, thinking to himself. Ty raised an eyebrow, "What are you thinking?"

Lukas looked back up at him and shrugged, "I want to bite one of them."

Ty frowned, "No, Lukas, we can't be the monsters they think we are. We have to be better than that."

"But they hurt us and kill us!" Lukas argued, an anger flashing in his eyes that Ty hadn't expected. He held the small boy close and sighed.

"I know they do, Lukas. It's not fair, I know. They've taken my whole family from me, but I still don't want to kill them. I'm better than that and so are you. Let them be the bad guys, we aren't." Ty said and Lukas glared at the ground.

"They killed my Mommy and Daddy. They hurt you! Why can't we hurt them back?" Lukas demanded.

"I'm sorry that you've lost your parents, Lukas, but didn't they ever take you to church?" Ty asked.

"Yes." Lukas admitted, the thought of church cooling his sudden temper slightly.

"And do you think it would make what they did right if we did the same thing?" Ty asked next.

"No." Lukas muttered.

"Exactly. I know it's hard, trust me I know. But we just have to be the bigger men and let it go, let God handle it." Ty said.

Lukas looked up then, a new light in his little eyes, "God will help us, _He_ will always love us, even if we do drink blood."

Ty smiled at Lukas, "Exactly. Never forget that, Lukas."

Lukas smiled back at Ty, "I won't. Should we pray for the Hunters?"

"That's a good thing to do." Ty said, smiling proudly at the younger vampire. Lukas held out his small hand and Ty took it in his own.

"Can you do it, I don't know what to say." Lukas said and Ty nodded.

"Sure, I'll say the prayer." Ty whispered and he and Lukas closed their eyes, bowing their heads forward. Ty swallowed before starting the prayer, "Lord, we come to You to ask for You to watch over us as we go through this trial we're in, that You be with us until we're back in safe arms. Please be with the Hunters also, they need to know You, Lord, to realize that we're Your children just as they are. Please Lord help them to realize that and thank You for Your love and protection, we would be no where without You, Lord. In Your heavenly name we pray, Amen."

**First off, I'm so glad everyone's liking the story so far! I wanted to make it more suspenseful and dramatic, haha. **

**Second, thanks so much for all the reviews guys! They're such an inspiration! And to those that send them under 'Guest', I wish I could message you to say thank you! So let me say it now to everyone, THANKS YA'LL! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6**_

"Okay, here we go." Amy said as she sat in the passenger's side of Matt's truck as they followed Ben's black Chevy Silverado to Annabelle's house.

"Ah I'm so excited! If this girl really knows where Ty is this is going to be such a big thing!" Soraya said from the back seat.

"As long as she hasn't realized what Ben is and isn't waiting to trap him." Matt said quietly.

"Surely she wouldn't have realized?" Soraya frowned, worried now. "Besides, we're here to keep them from getting Ben too." She pointed out.

"Here's hoping we can." Matt said as Ben pulled up outside Annabelle's house and got out of his truck, dressed in a pair of dark jeans a dark green button down, a denim jacket pulled over it. He looked back at Matt's truck and flashed a quick smile before walking up to the door of the house and knocking.

Pulled alongside the street a few yards from Ben's truck, Amy and the others watched him go inside the house as Annabelle invited him in.

"It still worries me that he's putting himself out there like this." Amy said.

"She won't realize what he is. She's too eager to get into his pants." Soraya said, shaking her head.

"Lovely way to put it." Amy said, wrinkling her nose.

"So how long until Ben's done, you think?" Soraya asked.

Amy tilted her head, "It shouldn't be too long."

They waited for a few minutes in silence, wondering what was going on behind the walls of the house in front of them and hoping that Ben was alright.

Relief swept through them when he walked outside a few minutes later, motioning for them to follow him before getting in his truck and driving off.

"He looked okay." Soraya said as Matt started his truck and went after the black Silverado.

"Where do you think he's going?" Matt wondered as they drove.

"To Ty maybe?" Soraya said hopefully, glancing at Amy as the girl remained silent, watching Ben's truck intently. "What are you thinking, Ames?"

"I don't think we're going to Ty just yet." Amy said sadly, sighing and leaning back into the seat.

"Why?" Matt asked.

"We couldn't just go straight there, it's too dangerous. We'll have to get a plan first to make sure that none of us get hurt and that we get Ty out fast." Amy said.

"Oh yeah, that makes sense." Soraya said, a little disappointed still.

Ben lead them back to the the school and parked his truck in the student section, waiting for Matt to shut off his truck before he got out. He glanced at the trees around them as he pulled a camouflage baseball cap low over his eyes and walked over to Amy.

"The Hunters are still in the trees around her. Can we hurry up and get inside? They'll recognize me." He whispered and she nodded, quickly leading the way to the closet dorm, which was the girls'. The group went quickly and quietly to Amy and Soraya's room and shut the door behind them, locking it before going to the window and insuring that it was locked and the curtains were closed.

"Well, the good news is that Ty apparently ain't that far from here." Ben said, taking a seat on Amy's bed and taking off his cap, "But the bad news is that if we don't hurry he won't be there for much longer."

"What do you mean?" Amy asked, her heart pounding in her chest.

"I mean, they've got a whole list of people lined up wanting to buy him. A sale almost went through a day or so ago but Ty acted up and they cut the sale off." Ben said.

"Okay so how long until they try again?" Matt asked.

"About two days. The good thing is that now that they've decided they'll sell him, he won't be killed off. Basically he's worth more to them alive." Ben answered.

"So where is he?" Amy asked.

Ben let out a breath, "Well, apparently they managed to fix up an old abandoned factory a few miles from here and make into a holding facility. He's there."

"So how do we get him out of there?" Soraya asked.

"That'll be hard, unfortunately. The place is crawling with Hunters so they can make sure to keep the vampires there under their control. I'm really not sure how we could get in and out with Ty without a huge fight." Ben said.

"And of course we can't get the police involved." Soraya muttered.

"Nope." Ben sighed.

"Surely there are a few police cops who could help? Maybe tamper with evidence or something?" Matt asked.

Ben tilted his head in thought, "That ain't a bad idea. I'll look into it when I try to get a blue print of the factory lay out."

"Is there any way we could get him out faster?" Amy asked.

Ben shook his head sadly, "I'm afraid not. I've never heard of a break in of a Hunter facility going well for vampires, so if we can pull this off it'll be a miracle."

Amy swallowed.

_'Lord help us, please...'_

_**H**_

_They have to stop! Lukas is just a kid, they'll kill him!_

_"Stop! He's just a kid, I'll take his punishment!" They ignore me and keep on kicking poor Lukas, cutting him with the tiny blades on the ends of their boots._

_I struggle as hard as I can against the chains that hold me to the wall and keep my from helping Lukas. This is too much..._

_Lukas is crying and curled up into a little ball, but they still keep on kicking him, and he didn't even do anything but try to hide behind me when they came into the cell. Why do this to him for being scared? Is that not what these monsters want him to feel?_

_"You'll learn you little brat! When we say come here, you better come!" One snaps before landing one final kick. _

_It's finally over as they walk out of the cell, one of the going over to me and unlocking my wrists. I quickly move to Lukas and drop down beside him as they slam the cell door shut._

_"Lukas, come on Lukas look at me." I plead as I carefully pick up his small frame and cradle him as best I can. My heart is pounding, I'm so scared for him._

_He groans and finally his eyes open and meet mine. He's so tired, I can see it, and he's lost so much blood._

_I do the only thing I can think to do. I lift my wrist to my mouth and slit it with my fangs, getting the blood to flow before placing my wrist to Lukas's mouth._

_His eyes widen in surprise before he latches to my wrist, his hands clinging to my arm desperately._

_After he takes a few gulps, I reluctantly pry him off._

_**H**_

Ty carefully pulled his wrist away, wiping the excess blood off on his ripped jeans.

Lukas panted in his arms, licking any traces of Ty's blood from his lips.

"Feel better?" Ty asked, helping Lukas sit up. Lukas nodded weakly.

"Thank you." He whispered and leaned into Ty's side. Ty put an arm around him and watched him worriedly.

He, Ty, was strong enough to take a beating like that, but Lukas was just a little kid. They couldn't do that to him, he'd die too easily.

"Why did they do that?" Lukas asked, tears in his eyes as he looked up at Ty.

Ty swallowed, "I really don't know, Lukas."

Lukas curled up beside Ty, resting his head on the older male's thigh. Ty sighed as the small child fell asleep.

_'I have to get him out of here. He doesn't belong here.' _Ty thought, looking down at Lukas.

Hearing footsteps coming towards them, Ty looked up at the cell door and glared at the Hunters that looked in at him, smirking as they saw the state that Lukas was in.

"Real men, aren't you? Beating a small child for nothing." Ty said and they glared at him.

"You're next if you don't shut that mouth." One of them growled.

Ty leaned forward a little bit, careful to not wake Lukas, "Try me in a fair fight where I'm not tied down. I'm not a child."

The two Hunters exchanged glances before glaring back at Ty, sick grins coming to their faces.

"Alright boy, you think you're so tough? Let's see it."

Ty gently moved Lukas, who murmured once but stayed asleep, and climbed to his feet, fangs bared, as the two Hunters entered the cell.

_**H**_

Laying in bed that night, all Amy could think about was that Ty was so close, and she was doing nothing to help him. It was killing her.

Knowing she wouldn't get any sleep, Amy glanced over at Soraya as she slipped out of her bed. Soraya slept on soundly, not noticing as Amy snuck to her dresser and dressed quickly, pulling on a pair of boots as she slipped out of their door.

Having an idea, Amy went down to the stable, going to the tack room and getting Lily's tack. If anyone could find Ty, it'd be Lily, the mare and Ty had the strongest bond that Amy had ever seen in horse and rider.

Going to the mare's stall, Amy smiled softly as she saw Lily alread waiting for her, ears pricked forward curiously.

"Come on, Lily. Let's see what we can do to help Ty." Amy whispered, going into the stall and tacking up the tall mare.

In the stall next to Lily's, Sundance watched curiously, knowing that this had something to do with Ty.

"We'll be back Sundance." Amy whispered, pressing a kiss to the gelding's muzzle as she lead Lily out of her stall and down the barn aisle. Once outside, Amy adjusted the stirrups and swung up onto Lily.

"Okay, where should we try first, Lily girl." Amy whispered.

Lily herself looked around before her ears pricked again and she started off in a direction, heading towards the trees behind the school.

_'Follow the leader.' _Amy thought, letting Lily go as she pleased.

The young mare picked up her pace to a trot as they neared the trees, going down the trail a few yards before cutting abruptly off the trail and into the trees and briars.

"Lily, what are you doing?" Amy whispered, scared that the gray would get hurt as she carefully picked her way over falled trees and through briar patches. Once they got back to the stable, Amy would be sure to check Lily over for cuts and things like that. She didn't want Ty to think that she'd forgotten about his beloved horse while he was gone.

For the next ten minutes, Lily went on in the same direction, weaving through trees and around holes. Several times Amy wondered if she should dismount and walk beside the horse, but she knew she'd never be able to keep up.

When Lily suddenly stopped, Amy looked around, wondering what could have stopped the mare; she had seemed to be determined to get somewhere, but they were still in the middle of the trees.

Lily changed directions, angling more to the right and pressing onward as the underbrush got thicker.

When Lily stumbled over a patch of briars, Amy finally pulled up on the reins, dismounting and helping the mare get untangled, cutting her hands a little bit in the process.

Once she was loose, Lily looked at Amy expectantly, her dark eyes gentle and eager to keep going.

"Where are we going, Lily?" Amy murmured, stroking the mare's muzzle.

Lily blinked once before suddenly throwing up her head and pinning her ears at what had gotten her attention, pulling back her upper lip to show her teeth.

Amy looked towards where Lily was looking and her eyes widened as she saw the Hunter leader watching them, a blank look on the woman's face.

Amy swallowed as an anger like she'd never known flooded through her body and she started walking forward, Lily falling in step beside her. She didn't know what she was going to do, but this woman was about to know her wrath, no matter what she had to do to show it.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7**_

"You're the girl that was with the Baldwin vampire." The woman said as Amy got closer.

"Where's Ty? Tell me where he is _now_!" Amy snapped, stopping a few feet from the woman and glaring at her with every ounce of anger in her body.

The woman glanced at Lily, "Is this your horse?"

Amy tightened her grip on Lily's reins, "Answer my question! I want Ty back!"

The woman stayed the same, not threatened by Amy's anger, "It's a nice horse, but is it not the vampire's? What are you doing with it?"

"_Her_! This is a mare! And yes, _she_ is Ty's, I'm caring for her until I get him back from you monsters. Now where is he?" Amy snapped, taking a step forward. Her heart was pounding in her chest, beating so heard she wouldn't have been surprised if the Hunter could hear it herself.

The woman sighed, "So you do love the vampire, it wasn't just compulsion."

"You thought Ty _compelled _me to love him?! Ty would never do that! Shows how much you know! Now give him back to me!" Amy said, her hands starting to shake from anger. Lily pawed the dirt beside her, kicking up leaves and twigs as she threw her weight in for Amy.

The woman tilted her head at Amy and raised an eyebrow at her, "Why do you want him back so badly?"

Amy grit her teeth, "Because I love him!"

The woman fell silent, watching Amy closely. Amy glared back at her, resisting the urge to throw her fist into the woman's blank face.

"The vampire is up for sale, do you love him enough that you would buy his freedom?" She finally said.

"How much?" Amy asked, even as her stomach rolled at the thought of Ty, or anyone, being treated as no more than livestock to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

"We have a buyer willing to pay a hundred thousand for him." The woman said calmly.

Amy's heart dropped, "A hundred thousand?"

The woman nodded and looked Amy over, "I doubt that you have that much laying around, as you are a student."

Amy licked her lips nervously, "Look, please just give me Ty back. I love him, he loves me. Is that really so hard for you to understand? Ty is not a monster, he's an amazing guy. And I know you've been hurting him and it's killing me!"

The woman hummed in thought and Amy grit her teeth. Was this woman trying to drive her insane? She was doing a good job of it!

Amy opened her mouth to speak again but the Hunter cut her off.

"I will make you a deal." She said.

Amy froze, barely daring to hope. She listened intently to every word the Hunter said.

"If you love this vampire so much, find where we are keeping him and find a way inside. If you can do that, I will sell him to you for a thousand dollars." The woman said.

Amy's eyes widened and she swallowed, "Really? This isn't just some sick joke?"

The woman held out her hand, "You have one week to find him and you must have the money with you when you find him. After that week, he'll be auctioned off. Is it a deal?"

Tears filled Amy's eyes as she reached out and shook the woman's hand.

"Deal."

_**H**_

A pained cry was ripped from Ty's chest as he fell back, the knife wound that had been inflicted to his chest pulsing from whatever the Hunter's had dipped the blade in. He put a hand to his chest as the world spun around him, darkening so that he couldn't see. He wasn't getting the fair fight he'd challenged them to.

They'd bound his wrists and then five of them had all went at him at once. As outnumbered as he was, he had still managed to land a few good blows against them, nearly breaking one's arm and knocking out another, but a new man had taken his place.

"What poison did you use on me?" He demanded, scrubbing at his eyes to try and clear his vision, the shackles that bound his wrists together clanging loudly.

The men's laughter rang out around him and Ty squinted his eyes, trying to see. It was useless, he couldn't see a thing.

"Don't worry bloodsucker, it's just temporary." A man said beside Ty's ear and he whirled to the sound, only turning into a kick to his stomach. He doubled over with a grunt of pain and clutched his stomach, catching the next blow to his face.

He fell into the wall behind him and slid down it to lay on his side, panting hard. The poison was really starting to kick in now; pain rolled in Ty's veins and he was losing the feeling in his arms and legs.

_'It's going to paralyze me.' _Ty thought and panic washed into his system. He struggled to his hands and knees, arms and legs trembling pathetically. He panted harshly and turned his head, trying desperately to see his attackers.

They had backed off and were grinning, watching his struggle against the poison in his system. Suddenly Ty's arms buckled and he fell, gasping as he collapsed to the floor. He panted, trying to push himself back up, but it was no use; it was like his muscles were made of jello. He couldn't do anything.

_'What are they going to do to me now?' _Ty thought, hearing two of them approaching him. Even his hearing was starting to be affected; it was like trying to listen from underwater.

Hands grabbed him and he was hauled roughly to his feet. He staggered and could hear them laughing at him, no matter how muffled and distorted the sound was. They passed him back and forth between them, shoving him back and forth. He struggled to stay on his feet between shoves.

Suddenly one shoved hard and sent him into the wall. Stars exploded behind his eyes as his head cracked back against the wall. He slumped down, letting his head hang as he grit his teeth in pain and groaned, panting harshly and pulling breaths between his teeth.

"Aw, guys I think we hurt the poor baby." One said in a false voice and they burst out laughing.

Ty swallowed thickly, finally catching his breath. He groaned and leaned his head back gently against the wall, looking up towards the sky out of dazed and glazed over eyes.

_'Lord help me, please.' _He prayed, tensing as he heard them walking towards him again.

"Fun's over, bloodsucker. Boss lady is back, so back to the cell you go." Once said cheerfully and they grabbed him under his arms, pulling him up and leading him forward. His legs gave out from under him, the poison still in effect and he was shocked when they didn't let him drop to the floor. But they did drag him until he managed to get his feet under him again, which took most of the trip back to the cell.

Lukas's eyes widened at the state Ty was in when the Hunters opened the cell door and threw him in. He landed hard on his side, grunting from the impact.

The child scrambled to Ty's side as the Hunters walked away.

"Ty? Ty!" He cried desperately as the older male shut his eyes tiredly.

"I'm okay, Lukas, promise." Ty said quietly and sighed, forcing his eyes open and carefully sitting up, unable to push himself up that well with his wrists still shackled. Lukas helped him as best as he could, scared that he would hurt Ty further. Ty groaned in pain, still unable to see.

"Ty, what's wrong with your eyes?" Lukas asked, seeing how glazed and dialated Ty's eyes were.

"They poisoned me and now I can't see. It's supposed to be temporary." Ty said. It wouldn't have surprised him if they had lied to him about it being temporary.

Lukas's eyes widened in fear, "You can't see me?!"

"For now, it's only temporary." Ty assured him, praying that he was right and the poison wouldn't leave any lasting effects.

Lukas trembled fearfully, watching Ty closely. "What do I do? How can I help?" He asked.

Ty shook his head, "There isn't anything that we can do for now, Lukas. We just have to pray and wait."

"Okay, okay." Lukas nodded his head and then grabbed one of Ty's hands, surprising the older vampire as he clasped both of his small hands around Ty's hand and bowed his head in prayer.

"Lord, please fix Ty's eyes so he can see again and make him feel better after what those mean Hunters did. Please God. Thank you, I love you. Amen." Lukas whispered and Ty smiled softly.

"Thank you, Lukas." He said and Lukas smiled at him, even though Ty couldn't see it. He snuggled under Ty's arm and sighed softly, making Ty smile.

"We'll get out of here soon, Lukas, I know we will." Ty whispered, his thoughts drifting back to Amy.

Lukas smiled at him, "Yeah!"

Ty chuckled to himself and leaned back against the wall, ignoring the chains that were still biting into his wrists and thinking about Amy and how much he loved her. He hoped she hadn't forgotten him...

_**H**_

Amy was brushing Lily out when Ben found her, raising an eyebrow at the excitement in her eyes.

"Where did you go?" He asked, holding out a hand to Lily as the mare recognized him and walked up to him eagerly, ears pricked forward.

"I just had a feeling that Lily could find Ty." Amy said.

"Did she?" Ben asked eagerly, blue eyes flicking back to the mare.

"Not yet. But we found one of the Hunters, the leader." Amy said.

Ben's eyes widened, "What happened?" He demanded, looking Amy over for any sign of injuries or a fight, then doing the same to Lily. He saw the small briar scratches on her legs, which Amy had already treated.

"She made a deal with me. We have one week to find Ty and then I can buy him back for a thousand dollars." Amy said.

Ben frowned, "One week?"

"It shouldn't take us nearly a week to find him, right? I mean, you got the location from Annabelle didn't you?" Amy said eagerly, grinning at Ben in excitement.

"I got a general idea of the location, Ames. I still don't know where it actually is." Ben said and Amy frowned slightly, but kept her spirits high.

"But we'll still be able to find Ty soon and get him back! I'm going to the bank first thing in the morning to draw out the money, then we can start looking for where it is that they have him." Amy said.

Ben bit his lip, thinking it over in his head, "And you're sure she's going to go through with this deal she made you? I mean, from what Annabelle was thinking they had Ty sold for a lot more than a thousand dollars, Ames."

"A hundred thousand is what they're going to sell him for if we don't find him in the next week." Amy said and Ben swallowed, turning and pacing a few feet down the aisle before pacing back to Amy, looking in at her and nodding.

"Alright, one week. We'll find him, Ames." Ben said and smiled at her weakly, the fear of what state his friend could be in swimming through his mind.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 8**_

Ben lay in Ty's bed, using his room for the night so he wouldn't have to hide out in the woods. He couldn't sleep, his mind stuck on his friend.

_'Ty, what are they doing to you my friend? Are you still alive? You have to be.' _Ben thought, swallowing hard.

All kinds of childhood memories flooded through his head, bringing a small smile to his face.

_"Come on, Ty! Jump!" Ten year old Ben grinned excitedly as his best friend stood on top of the large boulder they'd been jumping off of._

_Ty looked over the edge before grinning at Ben and backing up a few steps to get a running start before leaping off of the rock and into the air, staying airborn for a few seconds before splashing into the water below._

_Up on the rock stood two more ten year olds, two friends of Ben and Ty's; Mark and David Stranton, twin vampires with dark red hair and light blue eyes. They whooped as Ty surfaced, a bright grin on his face._

_"That was a huge splash, Ty!" David called down the the emerald eyed child._

_"Thanks!" Ty called back and laughed happily. _

_Ben swam over to Ty and playfully dunked him under the water. The other boy laughed as he resurfaced and turned to Ben, lunging at him._

_The two wrestled in the water, not noticing the two twins lining up their jumps._

_David and Mark grinned at each other before running and leaping up into the air, landing on either side of Ty and Ben, startling the two and making them gasp._

_Roaring, the two twins lunged onto the other two boys, dragging them under the water, Ben and Ty flailing the whole time._

_Once they were allowed to resurface, sputtering and spitting out water. They coughed and grinned at their friends before swimming over to them, splashing water at them._

_Mark and David laughed and splashed back at them._

_The sound of an approaching adult had the four boys freezing and looking around, wondering who was coming._

_"Ty! It's time to come in honey, your grandpa is here to see you." Karen Baldwin, Ty's mother, smiled at the four boys as she immerged from the trees._

_"Hi Mrs Baldwin!" Ben, Mark, and David called to her. She smiled at them._

_"Hi boys. You need to be getting home soon too, it's gonna be dark soon." Karen said._

_"Yes ma'am! Bye Ty!" Ben called and the twins waved as Ty scrambled out of the water and wrapped his towel around his slim form, going to his mother's side. She smiled at him lovingly and wiped his wet hair from his eyes._

_"My little one." She whispered and he smiled at her, eyes bright._

_Ty turned and waved to his friends before leaving with his mother._

Ben smiled softly at the memory, one of the last one's he had with David Stranton. A few weeks after that, Hunters had killed David and Mark had barely escaped them. It had nearly driven Mark insane to watch his brother, his older brother by ten minutes, die at the hands of the Hunters. Mark hadn't ever been the same since and he hated humans with a passion for the death of his brother.

Ben sighed sadly, wishing there was something he could do to help Mark but knowing that he couldn't. He let himself drift into the next memory.

_"Got ya!" Twelve year old Ben took Ty down from behind, the brown haired twelve year old laughing as Ben dug his fingers into Ty's sides._

_"Not fair!" Ty giggled and tried to squirm out from under Ben._

_"Say it!" Ben ordered, grinning as he fought to keep Ty down._

_"No!" Ty gasped and struggled to get to his hands and knees, trying to throw Ben off._

_"You better say it, Ty!" Ben laughed and moved up to Ty's ribs, Ty squealing with giggles and dropping back to his stomach, trying to tuck his arms down to protect his weak spots._

_"Nope, not happening!" Ben used his knee to block Ty's arm and turned his attention to Ty's right side, working on his ribs and side. _

_Ty choked on his laughter and nearly convulsed from laughing so hard, "Okay! Okay! You win!"_

_"What do you say?" Ben grinned, pressing hard into Ty's side._

_"Uncle! Uncle!" Ty squeaked and pounded his fist into the ground, laughing so hard that small tears were leaking from his eyes._

_"I guess that works." Ben said and jumped up and off of his friend, running for all he was worth._

_Ty quickly pushed himself to his feet, panting hard. He took off after his friend, "Ben! You're going to get it for that!"_

_Ben looked over his shoulder to see Ty jumping over a fallen log, already closing in on him. He grinned._

_"Catch me if you can, Ty!" _

Ben chuckled. Somehow Ty hadn't been able to catch him that day, much to Ben's surprise.

Folding his arms behind his head, Ben sighed to himself. He frowned sadly out at the darkness of the room.

_'Ty should be laying in this bed right now, safe and sound, never touched by the Hunters. He's done nothing to deserve them hurting him.' _He thought. He bit his lip carefully, wondering where Ty was exactly.

_'One week. That's how long we have to find him...' _Ben thought and swallowed. He looked up again, towards the ceiling over his head. _'We'll find him, there's no way we won't! Please Lord...'_

_**H**_

Amy was looking at an old map on her bed, trying to pin-point just where Ty could be. So far she had seen a few locations that might be the place.

"Amy? What are you doing?" Soraya muttered sleepily, sitting up slowly in her bed and squinting against the light of Amy's small bedside lamp.

"I have one week to find Ty before they sell him." Amy said, her eyes never leaving her map.

That woke Soraya up and she pushed herself out of bed, going over to Amy, "What?"

Amy quickly explained her run in with the Hunter leader to Soraya, who's eyes grew wide before dropping to the map.

"Where did you get this?" She asked.

"Ben." Amy said simply.

Soraya looked over the map, "How old is this?"

"1960's." Amy said.

Seeing a few places on the map that Amy had marked with a removable sticker, Soraya hummed in thought, carefully reading over the map.

"Where do you want to look first?" Soraya asked.

"I'm not sure yet." Amy murmured.

Soraya tilted her head and watched Amy for a second, wondering what was going through her friend's head at that moment. Excitement? Desperation to get Ty back?

_'Probably both.' _She thought, knowing she would be the same way if she ever were to lose Matt. She prayed she never did.

Watching Amy as she pored over the map, completely zoned in and ignoring all outside distractions, Soraya wondered again about Ty and what was being done to him. She glanced back down at the map and saw that all the locations that Amy had marked were fairly close to the school. Standing, Soraya crossed to the window and looked out of it.

_'Ty, have you really been so close this entire time?'_

_**H**_

Matt stared out of the window in his room, unable to sleep, his thoughts stuck on the friend that he knew was hurting and he wasn't helping. Guilt twisted his insides.

_'Ty's tougher than they think he is. They won't be able to get anything over on him. He'll teach 'em to mess with him.' _Matt told himself as he looked out of the window.

The dense trees and foliage behind the school looked so sinister and darker than it ever had before, and he knew that it only seemed that way to him because he knew that the Hunter's had used those same trees as cover to stalk Ty and plot his capture and death. Knowing that made them seem almost evil, even though all the evil had been the Hunters' doing and not the trees themselves. Guilty by association.

The Hunters... Matt didn't think he'd ever meet such idiots again in his life. To think Ty was a threat that needed to be eliminated, how stupid could they get? Ty was nothing like they wanted them to think he was; a blood drinking, murdering monster. No, he was a great guy and pretty dang religious once you got to know him. And really patient with people, Matt knew that first hand.

He smiled, remembering an old conversation he and Ty had had about a week after he had found out what Ty was.

_Matt was watching Ty closely as he and the other male hung out in Ty's room, waiting for the girls to show up so they could go out and see a movie._

_Ty could feel Matt's eyes on him, but chose to say nothing and wait until his friend finally voiced what he wanted to say. _

_Finally, Matt swallowed and spoke, "Hey Ty?"_

_"Yeah?" Ty stood at his closet, bare to the waist as he chose a shirt to wear that night. He turned his head to look over his shoulder at his friend._

_"What's it like?" Matt asked simply and Ty smiled softly._

_"Any part specifically?" He asked._

_Matt thought a moment, "Well, what's it like drinking blood?"_

_Ty nodded, "I was actually wondering when you or Soraya would ask that." He grinned at his friend as Matt looked sheepish, "It doesn't bother me, Matt. I have no problems with what I am and I'm happy to explain as best I can to someone who isn't like me."_

_Matt smiled softly, "Thanks, man. It's just amazing, ya know? Growing up thinking that something is a fairy tale only to have it show up in your life? Pretty amazing."_

_Ty chuckled in amusement, "I suppose so. I would probably be the same if I saw say a unicorn or a troll or something like that."_

_Matt laughed and Ty grinned at him._

_Finally finding a shirt, Ty pulled it off of it's hanger and slipped it on before going to his bed and sitting down, facing Matt head on._

_"Well, drinking blood for me is a lot like when you drink water. It just comes naturally." Ty said._

_"Does it taste like water?" Matt asked._

_Ty shook his head, "The taste depends on the person."_

_"Explain please." Matt sat forward, curious._

_"Well, the easiest way I know to describe it is that each person has their own distinct taste based off of their personality. A mean, spiteful person will taste horrible while a nice or innocent person will taste good." Ty said._

_"Is there a difference in taste between men and women?" Matt asked._

_Ty nodded, "Yeah. Men taste more masculine, women more feminine."_

_Matt fell silent and Ty knew what he wanted to ask next, but waited patiently for his friend to ask him._

_"Biting someone, what's that like? Does it hurt that person?" Matt asked._

_Ty shook his head, "Whether or not our bite hurts all depends on the vampire inflicting the bite, actually. We can make it feel amazing, or we can make it the most agonizing experience of your life."_

_"Wow. How do you do that?" Matt asked, raising an eyebrow._

_"Well, it all falls back on the chemicals in our saliva. One chemical causes a pleasure rush, the other a rush of pain. We choose which one we want to use with each bite, or we can use both at once." Ty said._

_"Have you ever used both on a person?" Matt asked, frowning._

_Ty looked down, "Actually, I had never actually bitten a human until I came here." He flushed._

_"Really? Why?" Matt asked._

_"By choice. I never want to hurt someone, but I would feel bad if I bit someone and it felt really good, it's almost like... sex out of marriage." Ty said, shrugging._

_"So, who was it you bit when you came here?" Matt raised an eyebrow at him._

_Ty looked down, "Well, I don't guess it counted as an actual bite, I was in too much pain to really use any kind of chemicals, but the first time I've ever bitten a human was when Amy gave me her blood to save me from the Hunters' poison." He said quietly._

_"That hardly counts. I mean, you bit her wrist, not her neck." Matt said and Ty chuckled to himself._

_"My teeth still broke her skin, _human _flesh." Ty said._

_"I still don't think it should count. Besides, it was a life or death thing!" Matt said._

_Ty leaned back, looking heavenward, "I guess you're right." He murmured and Matt nodded._

_"Oh yeah, man, you're still virgin pure when it comes to the biting thing." Matt said teasingly and Ty glared at him playfully._

_"Ha ha." Ty said sarcastically, playfully._

_The girls knocking on the door called an end to the boys' conversation and they both stood, eager to go out with the girls._

Matt smiled despite the situation. Ty was probably the most innocent vampire anyone would ever meet, he didn't doubt that for a minute.

Letting out a breath, Matt went back to his bed and forced himself to lay down and try to get some sleep. Tomorrow they were going to look for Ty, and they _were _going to find him, and soon!

_'We haven't forgotten you, Ty. We're coming man, just hang in there.'_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9**_

_I think my vision is finally starting to come back. It's like my vision is slowly, really slowly, starting to brighten, like when someone has control of one of those switches that brighten and dim the lights in a room._

_I'm so thankful, it's been hours since they poisoned me and blackened my sight. I was starting to get scared that it wasn't going to come back or that it would take days or something. I'd be useless then to both myself and to Lukas._

_From what I can tell, Lukas is doing better. He's sleeping against my side right now, trying to stay warm. These cells are colder than you would expect, but I think the Hunters do that on purpose to make us that much more miserable._

_Lukas is starting to move around, I think he's waking up._

_What time is it? I have no way of knowing; there's no windows anywhere around here for me to be able to get a glimpse of the sky and see if the sun or the moon is out._

_Sighing, I lean my head back against the stone wall behind me._

_How long has it been since I last saw Amy? What's she doing? I can only pray that she's okay and the Hunters haven't tried to hurt her._

_Thinking on it, they must not have went after her or Matt or Soraya. I'm sure they would throw it in my face if they did, just to make me beg for their safety. And I would do it, too. If I knew that they were going to go after Amy and my friends, I wouldn't hesitate to fall to my knees and beg. I'd stop fighting, become a model prisoner and let them sell me for whatever purpose or price._

_Anything to keep them safe, no matter what it would take; my body, blood, or life, I'd give anything._

_I miss them so much..._

_**H**_

Lukas leaned against Ty's side, eyes open as he looked up at the silent older male. He could tell that Ty was thinking, and hoped that he wasn't worrying.

He nuzzled his friend, "What are you thinking?"

Ty blinked as he was jolted from his thoughts and looked towards the sound of Lukas's voice, still unable to see, "I was just wondering on some things. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes. Can you see yet?" Lukas asked, looking closely at Ty's eyes to see if they had cleared any or not.

"Almost. It's starting to clear up." Ty said and Lukas grinned happily.

"Good!" He said and Ty chuckled, nodding his head in agreement.

"Yeah." He said and Lukas squirmed closer to him as a cold chill swept through the cell block.

"Where is all this cold coming from?" Ty muttered, putting his arm around Lukas to try and keep the younger warm.

"Do you think they'll feed us today?" Lukas asked and Ty frowned.

"I doubt it, Lukas. Who knows." Ty sighed.

Lukas frowned, "You need blood, I took some from you yesterday." He said.

"I'm fine, and you needed it." Ty replied. Lukas frowned at him, but didn't say anything. He was starting to learn that Ty could be stubborn and sometimes you just had to let him go.

"Ty?" Lukas asked cautiously.

"Hm?" Ty hummed, raising an eyebrow at the hesitation he heard in Lukas's voice.

"Um, when you sleep, you mumble a name sometimes. Um, who is Amy?" Lukas asked.

Ty swallowed, "When did I do this?"

"Last night." Lukas answered, watching Ty closely for any sort of reaction to the name. He was wondering who this person was; were they close to Ty? A parent or sibling maybe?

"Where there any Hunters around when I said it?" Ty asked, afraid that they would have heard him and decided that it'd be fun to hurt him by going after Amy. His heart pounded in his chest.

How many times had he done this before, or was this the first time? He prayed it was, and that he wouldn't do it again.

"No one was around. I barely heard you, you were really really quiet." Lukas said and Ty nodded his head, letting out a breath of relief.

Lukas waited patiently to see if Ty would tell him who this person was.

Ty swallowed, knowing he had to explain, "Well, Lukas, Amy is my girlfriend, she's the love of my life."

"Is she a vampire?" Lukas asked.

"No, she's a human." Ty answered.

"Ooooh. So I guess the Hunters don't like that you are together?" Lukas asked.

"I don't guess so." Ty replied and swallowed again. Thinking of Amy almost hurt, knowing that he was away from her and couldn't hold her or protect her. Thinking that the Hunters might go after her and hurt her... It nearly killed him to think that.

"Does she love you too?" Lukas asked next and Ty smiled softly.

"Yes she does." He whispered and sighed softly, a little bit of happiness brought to his wounded person. Amy did love him, she'd fought so hard for him, and was probably looking for him at that moment.

"Can I meet her when we get out of here?" Lukas asked.

Ty smiled, "Of course, Lukas."

Lukas smiled happily and fell silent, snuggling up to Ty. Ty chuckled and held him close as another chilly breeze came, thinking about how Amy would react to his new little friend.

_'She'll love him, I'm sure she will.' _Ty thought and let his eyes close, smiling softly as he fell asleep, thinking of Amy and how happy he'd be to hold her again.

_**H**_

"Ow!"

"Soraya, you've got to quiet down. If we do find the Hunters, you'll give us away with all that noise." Matt hissed over his shoulder at his girlfriend.

"Well I can't help it! All this underbrush is trying to cut me into little bits!" Soraya hissed back, lifting her bleeding finger to her mouth and sucking on it lightly, glaring at Matt as he shook his head at her.

"Do you need me to carry you?" He asked her.

"Shut up before I make you." She muttered and shoved past him.

Ahead of the two, Ben and Amy were too focussed on finding the abandoned factory that they were looking for to notice the squabble behind them.

"Which way should we go now?" Amy whispered, knowing that Ben would hear her.

He peered over her shoulder at the map and bit his lip carefully as he thought, "Let's angle more to the right, that should put us closer to it."

"Alright." Amy whispered and changed her direction, carefully stepping over falled lumber and around thickets of briars as she went. Ben walked beside her, careful to keep himself a little out front just in case they did find the Hunters he could protect Amy and the others.

"Shouldn't we have seen Hunters by now?" Soraya whispered to Matt as they caught up to Amy and Ben.

"Who knows, they may have their hands full with the vampires they've captured." Matt said.

"I guess." Soraya sighed. She had a feeling that this wasn't where they needed to be. They'd seen no signs of the Hunters, only wildlife.

As they neared the old factory and it came into view, Ben noticed a change in the scent of the air and stopped. Amy looked up at him hopefully.

"What?" She whispered, her heart pounding in her chest.

Ben took a deep breath through his nose, trying to see if he could pick up any traces of human scent from the old factory that lay a few dozen yards ahead of them. He let it out slowly and sighed, shaking his head sadly.

"They aren't here." He said, turning to go back.

"Are you sure?" Amy asked, her heart sinking in her chest. She'd been so hopeful that this was the place where they were keeping Ty.

"I'm sure, Ames. The only scents of human here are from years and years ago. They've almost faded away." Ben said, motioning for the map that Amy held. She sadly handed it over and he removed the marker from the factory and looked over the map to see which location they should try next in their search for their kidnapped friend.

"This place isn't it?" Matt asked, disappointment easily read in his voice.

"Afraid not." Amy sighed and looked to Ben as he made a small noise of surprise.

"What is it?" Soraya asked.

Ben pointed to a spot on the map. It was the farthest from the school, a good five or six miles away, "That has to be where they have him."

Amy and the others eagerly looked at the location he had indicated.

It was an old lumber yard, easily the largest location on the map. It was also the longest abandoned building, having not been used since the 1940's, having been shut down after a tragic accident had taken the lives of five workers.

"You're sure?" Matt asked, looking up at Ben.

Ben nodded, "Positive. It's exactly what Annabelle remembered when she thought of where they were holding the vampires."

"Well what are we standing here for? Let's go!" Soraya said and the four started moving as quickly as they could back towards where they had come from. The sooner they got out of the trees, they could get in Matt's truck and drive most of the way to the lumber yard.

Amy's heart was pounding as she jumped over a fallen tree and ran on, dodging around trees and small shrubs as best as she could.

_'We've found you, Ty! We're coming!'_

_**H**_

"Okay, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"Looks like five to me."

"Okay, and now?"

"You didn't put down any fingers, Lukas."

Lukas smiled happily, "You can see again!"

Ty sighed in relief and nodded, "Yes, I can. Thank God."

"Thank You, Lord, for giving Ty's his sight back!" Lukas said and Ty smiled at him.

He opened his mouth to reply but froze when he heard voices coming towards his and Lukas's cell. A man and a woman.

"Who's that?" Lukas whispered, his eyes widening in fear as he moved closer to Ty.

"I guess we'll see in a second." Ty said back, putting a protective arm around Lukas. His heart started pounding when he saw that it was the Hunter who took the greatest pleasure in his pain and that he'd brought a woman, a very wealthy one from the diamond jewelry and expensive clothing she wore. And her eyes were immediately on Ty.

"My, my. A little beaten up, isn't he?" The woman said as her eyes raked over Ty's form.

"Shouldn't bother you, you've done worse to ones like him." The Hunter said and smirked at her. She sent him a grin in return.

Realize cut into Ty and he swallowed fearfully. This woman was a buyer, and the look in her eyes when she looked at him absolutely terrified him. She wanted him, and not for just a simple boy toy, either.

Against his better judgement, Ty peeked into the woman's mind and immediately recoiled, shocked and horrified at what she was thinking. He'd never have thought that a woman could be so evil.

His heart nearly stopped when she pulled out a checkbook and started to write, the Hunter beside her sending Ty a sadistic grin. Fear flooded his veins.

_'Please God, no!'_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chapter 10**_

_It hurts! It hurts so badly! How can someone do things like this to another living creature and _enjoy it_?!_

_I grit my teeth against my agony, refusing to scream. If I do that, she'll be happy, maybe if I stay silent she'll get bored and take me back to the cell._

_Thank God she only rented me instead of bought, that's the only relief I can find in this hell that I've been trapped into; tied down with my arms over my head._

_I look towards the clock on the wall and see that only twenty minutes has passed. She still has an hour and fourty minutes to torture me._

_"Come on sweety, you know you'll feel better if you scream. Let out the pain, no one can hear it but me." She whispers against my ear and traces my ear with her tongue. I jerk my head to the side and away from her, my body starting to tremble from holding back my screams._

_She laughs at my defiance, running her fingers down my chest, staining them with the blood flowing from the slashes she put across my chest._

_I start panting to breathe, fighting to stay silent as I stare at the ceiling over my head. I lick my lips._

_She takes the small baton in her hand and cracks it down over my ribs. I hiss in pain but otherwise stay silent._

_I've never been in this much pain before, not even from the Hunters' torture sessions._

_A sharp shock of electricity enters my body and I gasp, closing my eyes as my whole body goes rigid. She drags her nails over my stomach, drawing blood. _

_I let a whimper escape me and she smiles, pleased. She stands beside my head and smoothes my hair out of my eyes as I pant, sweat starting to bead on my body. I look up at her and my eyes meet cold brown eyes, no remorse or mercy in them._

_"Why do this to me?" I pant._

_"Because I enjoy it." She says simply and I weakly lift my head in alarm to look at my stomach as she injects a liquid into my navel. It's clear and the moment its in my body it starts burning uncontrollably. I choke on my next breath as it spreads through me, feeling like liquid fire in my veins._

_"Wh-what is that?" I whimper and grit my teeth in pain, laying my head back on the table._

_"Just a few chemicals mixed together. I thought it would break you for sure but I don't suppose it's going to." She says, tapping her cheek in thought as I let out pained gasps and gulp in air. It's getting hard to breathe._

_"You know, it's been fun, but not fun enough because of how stubborn you are. Why won't you scream for me?" She asks, trailing her fingers through my hair._

_I don't answer, too busy swallowing my screams that want out of my body so badly. Please let this end soon..._

_Suddenly she grins and runs both of her hands down my bloody chest, "I know what'll break you!"_

_I look up at her and my eyes widen. I shake my head weakly._

_"Please don't." I manage before she zaps my body again, this time the chemicals mixing with the electricity to cause every cell in my body to scream._

_I can't take it anymore and stop fighting it, letting my scream rip from my throat and fill the air around us._

_She grins at me, pleased, before going to the door and opening it, leaning out and calling to the Hunters. Three of them, including the one who rented me out, enter the room, grinning at me sadistically._

_Lord help me, they're just getting started with me..._

_**H**_

Lukas sobbed silently in a corner in his and Ty's cell, watching as the woman who'd taken Ty away called for a group of Hunters to come help her.

Ty's screams got louder and little Lukas dropped his head into his arms, his little body shaking with sobs for his friend.

_'Why are they hurting him like this? What did he do to deserve it?' _Lukas thought, sniffling before breaking into more sobs.

He couldn't help Ty, the only one who'd shown him any kind of kindness since the deaths of his parents.

Not knowing what else to do, Lukas did as Ty had taught him and bowed his head forward in prayer, clasping his small hands as tears flowed from his eyes and dripped onto the floor.

_'Lord please help Ty! Don't let them take him away too!'_

_**H**_

"There it is! We've found it!" Amy whispered excitedly to Ben as she and the others stopped a few yards from the old lumber yard.

A large fence surrounded it and inside the fence they saw two Hunters, leaning against a wall smoking cigarettes and talking.

"So how do we get inside to find Ty?" Matt asked.

Ben licked his lips nervously, "That's where I come in."

They looked to him in surprise.

"What are you talking about?" Amy asked.

Ben didn't answer, sliding his jacket off of his shoulders and making sure his truck keys, cell phone, and wallet, were safely stored in it's pockets. He handed it to Amy, "Watch this for me?"

"What are you about to do?" Amy demanded and Ben smiled at her.

"Exactly what you're about to do, work to get Ty out of this hell-hole. Make sure you get him out, okay? I'll see you guys in a little bit." Ben said and Amy realized what he was about to do.

"Ben no!" She gasped and lunged forward, but she was too slow. Ben was already gone, down to the fence around the lumber yard.

"Hey Hunter freaks!" He yelled out and the two Hunters instantly reacted, pulling guns on him. Amy and Soraya bit back screams as they fired at Ben, but missed him.

"You'll have to be better than that!" He yelled.

From where she stood, Amy could see the remaining sunlight glinting off of Ben's fangs as he grinned at the Hunters, wanting to bait them away.

"What do we do?" Soraya asked, horrified, as Ben took off into the trees and the Hunters went after him, three more immerging from the building to race after him, carrying the equipment they would need to capture him.

"Please be careful Ben." Amy whispered, saying a quick prayer for Ben's safety, before leading the way down towards the fence enclosing the lumber yard, Matt and Soraya right behind her. The trees and shrubbery that should have taken over the old yard had been cleared away by the Hunters, giving Amy and the others no coverage as they approached the fence and carefully opened the gate, slipping inside and closing it back behind them.

They looked around for a moment, unsure of where to go, before Soraya saw a door and pointed to it.

Amy lead the way as they bolted to the door. Grabbing the handle, Amy half expected it to be locked as she pulled. Much to her relief, it came open and she dashed inside, Matt carefully closing the door behind them.

They had went into a large room and Amy looked around, wondering where she was supposed to go now. Swallowing, she tried to reach Ty.

_"Ty? Can you hear me?" _

Amy waited a few minutes and when she recieved no answer her heart sank. She took off down the hall to her right, praying that it was the right way to go.

"Amy!" Soraya hissed and took off after her, Matt right beside her. They soon reached a set of stairs and took them two at a time in their rush to the bottom.

"Amy slow down! We don't know what we're running to!" Matt whispered behind her.

Amy landed at the bottom of the stairs and froze as she saw two halls, again. She panted to catch her breath as Soraya and Matt caught up, looking around. All three strained their ears, trying to hear anything that could point them in Ty's direction or warn them of approaching Hunters.

"I hear something! This way!" Soraya whispered and started inching her way to the left hall, Amy and Matt following as quietly as they could.

As they got closer to the source of the sound Soraya had heard, Amy and Matt picked up on it; the sounds of rattling chains chilled them to their cores.

_'We must be getting close.' _Matt thought, swallowing.

Thoughts started coming to the three as they moved down the hall; what kind of state would Ty be in? Would he recognize them, or would he be out of control? Had they starved him?

The hallway finally let out into a dungeon like hall of cells, each one made of steel and with the appearance of a prison cell. Most of them were occupied; men and women alike stared out at Amy and her friends, some baring their fangs in warning while others looked ready to make a meal of them.

Looking into a nearby cell, Amy's eyes met those of a young vampire. The boy looked no older than seven, maybe younger, and he was watching them with terrified eyes and a tear streaked face, tears still rolling from his eyes.

Anger shot through Amy's system. _'This is a child that they're hurting!'_

She crouched outside of his cell, "Hello, I'm Amy. What's your name?" She whispered.

The young boy lowered his large brown eyes to the floor, "Bloodsucker." He sniffled.

Soraya and Matt shared angry glances before crouching beside Amy slowly.

"No sweetie, the name your parents gave you." Soraya said gently.

Immediately more tears filled the child's eyes, "My Mommy and Daddy are dead. They killed them."

Soraya gasped and Amy felt her own eyes fill with tears a the small boy wiped at his face with a filthy, ripped up shirt sleeve, sniffling.

"Oh sweetie." Soraya whispered.

"T-they named me Lukas." The little boy hiccupped.

"Lukas." Matt murmured. He swallowed, "We're going to get you out of here, okay Lukas?"

Lukas lifted his head hopefully, "Really?" He asked.

"We promise little man." Matt answered.

Lukas shifted closer to the bars of his cell, "You mean it?"

"Yes sweetie." Soraya said, reaching into the cell and touching Lukas's wet cheek. He flinched, but let her wipe away his tears.

"We're looking for someone, maybe you've seen him?" Amy asked.

"What does he look like?" Lukas asked, nuzzling Soraya's hand. She smiled at him softly.

"His name is Ty, and -"

Lukas cut Amy off, "Does he have really green eyes?"

Amy's eyes widened, "Yes! You've seen him?" She asked.

Lukas nodded emphatically, "Yes ma'am! This is his cell, he shares it with me!"

"Do you know where he is?" Amy asked worriedly, looking around the cell and seeing dried blood all over the walls and floor. She could just imagine the injuries they'd have had to inflict on Ty to cause that much blood loss.

"Yes, yes! You have to hurry, the bad people took him to be hurt!" Lukas said, eyes widening in urgency.

"Where did they take him, Lukas, can you tell me?" Amy asked, her heart pounding in fear for Ty.

"That way, that way!" Lukas exclaimed, pointing down the hall.

Amy was up and running before Soraya and Matt could react. She tore down the hall, passing the cells that held vampires and ignoring them as they snapped their teeth at her, searching desperately for _her_ vampire.

Mentally she screamed to him, _"Ty! Where are you? Please answer!"_

She turned down a corridor as the hall turned and prayed that Ty could hear her. The only answer she recieved was a pained cry from further down the hall. She recognized Ty's voice.

Getting closer and closer, Amy finally burst into a large oval room overlooking a smaller room, like a viewing room with no dividers from what the spectators were watching. She froze in horror at what she saw, her breath catching in her throat.

Ty's arms were trapped over his head by thick chains, leaving his torso bare and exposed to his attackers. Another set of chains were wrapped tightly around Ty's ankles and held his legs to the table. A thick gag had been tied tightly around Ty's mouth to silence him as his tormentors took turns hurting him.

One, a woman, was injecting a blue colored liquid into Ty's navel as Amy appeared above them, unnoticed.

Ty jerked in agony and at that moment opened his eyes, looking up and catching sight of Amy. She saw the surrender and pain in his eyes and hot fury filled her own.

"Stop!" She screamed as loudly as she could.

The Hunters jumped in alarm and looked up, seeing her on the balcony above them.

"How'd you get in here?" One snarled at her.

_"Run Amy, please!" _Ty begged, pain filled eyes widening in desperation. He squirmed uselessly against the chains that bound him, earning himself one of the Hunter's fists slammed into his stomach. He coughed behind his gag from the blow, winded.

"I'm here to buy him." Amy called to the Hunters below her. They looked at her curiously now.

"And who said we'd sell him to you?" One grinned sadistically at the thought.

"I did."

Amy turned in alarm to face the woman leader of the Hunters, the one she'd spoken to in the woods. The other Hunters gave her a look of shock.

"But she's-" One started.

"Silence!" The woman ordered and the man shut his mouth, staring in shock. Sending the man one last glare, the woman then turned to Amy.

Amy swallowed, "I have the money, I found him in less than one week. Where's the paperwork?"

Down below, Ty strained his drug-reduced hearing, desperate to believe what he was hearing. If this worked, he'd be free...

"Come with me and we'll discuss the terms of sell." The woman turned to walk away. Amy turned back to look at Ty and tears filled her eyes.

Her vampire, her Ty, beaten and abused, covered in sweat from the tortureshe'd been enduring when'd gotten there. Seeing the hope in his eyes, she turned back to the Hunter leader, seeing the woman watching her with a raised brow.

"Please, make them stop hurting him." She plead.

The woman seemed to think a moment before nodding. She turned to the Hunters.

"Leave the room, do not touch the vampire again." She ordered.

Reluctantly, they all stepped away from Ty, all but one.

The mant hat had abused Ty the most since his capture glared up at the leader.

"You know what you're allowing to happen!" He yelled. "You know that girl isn't going to control him! You can't do this!"

"Yes, Donovan, I can and am." The woman glared coldly at the man named Donovan and his fellow Hunters sent him looks of warning as he refused to move.

"Once he's dead we've finished off an entire family line! Do you not realize this?" Donovan bellowed.

Ty eyed Donovan warily, knowing he was helpless to stop anything the man did to him now. He could _feel _Donovan's lust for his blood and swallowed hard.

"Donovan, go to your quarters at once. We will discuss the repercussions of your disobedience in time." The woman ordered, her eyes flashing in warning.

Still Donovan refused. Instead, he turned to the captive vampire and pulled his knife from his pocket, stepping towards Ty.

Ty's eyes widened in horror and he thrashed as best he could, reading Donovan's thoughts and what he was going to do to him.

"Someone stop him!" Amy screamed in terror.

"Restrain him!" The leader ordered and the group of men who'd been helping Donovan torture Ty lunged forward,, tackling the large man to the ground as he raised the blade to drive it into Ty's heart.

"I want Ty, please. I promise he won't do anything, just please let him go!" Amy begged and the woman motioned to her, leading Amy over to a set of stairs that were hidden by a panel and lead down to the observation pit.

Amy had to restrain herself from running to reach Ty as she followed the older woman. They reached the floor level of the pit and Amy went around the woman and ran to Ty's side, putting a hand to his cheek.

"Thank God." She whispered, tears filling her eyes as warmth and love filled Ty's eyes as he looked up at her.

Hearing a key, Amy looked up to see the Hunter leader herself undoing Ty's chains. Amy quickly set to work unwrapping Ty's arms and ankles. Glancing over, Amy saw an unconscious Donovan being carried away by his fellow Hunters.

Once Ty was free, he slowly sat up, grimacing as his body screamed in protest. Instantly, Amy's arms went around him and he collapsed against her, exhausted and in pain.

"I'm so glad you're still alive." Amy whispered tearfully and Ty smiled softly, too tired to reply. Instead he nuzzled closer to Amy and sighed. Amy kissed his forehead gently before turning back to the Hunter, "Where is the paperwork?"

The woman shocked Amy by smiling at her kindly.

"I'll go get it." She whispered and walked away, leaving Ty and Amy alone.

Amy turned back to Ty and saw that he'd fallen asleep in her arms, his head nestled against the crook of her neck and shoulder. She held him close, silently praying that she'd never lose him again.

**Ta Da! Rescued!**


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter 11**_

"Do either of you need anything else?" Amy asked, eyeing both Ty and Lukas closely.

It had been mere hours since returning to campus, smuggling in little Lukas, who's freedom Amy, Matt, and Soraya had chipped in. They had gotten both Ty and Lukas cleaned up and fed since returning to campus. They still hadn't heard from Ben, and that was starting to worry Amy.

"We'll be fine now, Ames. We're fed and just really tired." Ty said, his voice still hoarse and weak, barely audible. Lukas nodded sleepily beside him, cleaned up and in a new suit of clothes that Soraya had bought. The two were laid up in Ty's bed, on 'bed rest' by order of Amy, Matt, and Soraya. Lukas was snuggled up to Ty, still wary of his new surroundings after the abuse he'd suffered at the Hunters' hands.

As Lukas fell asleep against him, Ty turned his eyes to Amy.

"How did you know where to find us?" He asked as loudly as he could, wincing at the pain it caused his throat.

"Don't strain yourself. And an old friend of yours had heard that you'd been kidnapped and came to help." Amy whispered, frowning as she wondered just where Ben was.

Surely he'd escaped the Hunters, hadn't he?

"Who?" Ty asked.

A knock on the window interrupted Amy. Soraya went to the window and let out a breath of relief, opening it.

"We were starting to worry about you!" She chastized as Ben climbed in through the window.

Matt handed him his jacket and Ben's eyes went to Ty and Lukas. They widened at how tired Ty looked, how bruised and beaten he was.

"They did a number on you." He whispered, walking over to Ty's side.

Ty smiled happily at his friend and glanced at Lukas before trying to sit up.

"No, lay yourself back down." Ben stopped him and Ty reluctantly laid back down, wincing slightly. Ben carefully sat beside him and looked to Lukas, who'd sleepily opened his eyes to look at Ben curiously.

"That's Lukas. He was Ty's cell mate." Soraya said and Ben smiled softly at the child.

"What's up little man?" He whispered and Lukas smiled tiredly.

"Nothing." He whispered and yawned.

Ben smiled at him and turned to Ty. "I'll get so you two can sleep. Do you need anything?"

Ty swallowed painfully before whispering, "Don't go."

Amy thought quickly, "You could stay in here, Ben. We've used the couch tons of times."

Ty grinned at Amy and turned his eyes back to Ben, smiled and nodded.

"Alright." He agreed.

The look of delight on Ty's face made everyone in the room smile.

_**H**_

Leaving Ty that night to go sleep in her own room nearly killed Amy. She knew that he didn't want her to go, but she couldn't stay in there, not that night.

So, she stayed until he'd fallen asleep before sneaking out of the room, waving good night to Ben as he laid down on the couch. He smiled at her as she silently shut the door behind her.

Back in her own room, she finally broke down, sitting on her bed and letting the tears of relief and anger flow. Relief that they'd saved Ty, anger at the state he'd been in when they'd found him. He hadn't deserved that, and little Lukas sure didn't.

Soraya came out of the bathroom and, seeing Amy, went to her friend's side and wrapped her arms around her. Amy returned the hug.

"We finally got him back, Raya." She sobbed.

"I know, and he's going to be okay, Ames. You know he is and Lukas is too." Soraya said, rubbing Amy's back soothingly.

Amy sniffled, "I know, Raya, but I just hate that they went through that!"

"I know, sweetie. But Ty's back now, and you get to play loving nurse and get him back to health." Soraya said innocently and Amy popped her in the arm playfully.

"Raya." She laughed, wiping her eyes.

"Made you laugh." Soraya pointed out as she stood to go to her own bed.

"Yeah I guess you did." Amy said, smiling at her friend. She pushed herself up on her own bed and pulled back her covers, climbing under them. She laid down, pulling the covers to her shoulder, and closed her eyes as her head hit the pillow.

_'Thank You, Lord, for helping us find Ty and Lukas. I pray that the other vampires there that we couldn't help find Your mercy. Please help us nurse Ty and Lukas back to health and keep Ben safe from the Hunters now that they know he's around. Ty and Lukas are safe, we have papers of ownership, as wrong as that is, but Ben is a 'wild' vampire, he's fair game to the Hunters. Lord, I pray they never catch him. Thank You, Lord. I love You! Amen.'_

_**H**_

_We're safe, Lukas and me. We survived long enough to be rescued._

_Waking up in my own bed, Lukas pressed to my side, I look around and smile softly at Ben, passed out on the couch in my room. It's so good to see him again, I'm so glad that the Hunters didn't get him after that crazy stunt he pulled to help save me._

_Sitting up slightly, I wince at the resounding pain in my body, but ignore it and look around to see if Amy may still be in the room. Much to my disappointment, she isn't. But I still lay back down with a small smile on my face, knowing that she stayed with me until I had fallen asleep._

_Being in her arms again, that had let me know I was finally safe._

_I look over to Lukas and smile. He finally looks peaceful, away from the Hunter compound. He can finally sleep without having to worry about waking up to an attack._

_I sigh in content, even though it hurts my raw throat._

_"Shouldn't you be asleep?"_

_I look over in alarm at Ben, seeing him grinning at me sleepily, eyes half closed and tired._

_I smile at him, "I should be." Wow my voice sounds horrible, raspy and hoarse._

_"Oh, right, no talking for you. Remember now, you have to get better soon." Ben teases and I chuckle and nod my head, switching to speaking mentally to my friend._

"Better?" _I ask him and he chuckles._

"Yes. As long as this doesn't hurt you." _Ben replies._

_I shake my head in the negative, _"How is this going to hurt me? It's all mental."

"Say you had a headache..." _Ben trails off, grinning teasingly and I laugh despite myself, accidently waking up Lukas._

_He looks around in alarm and sees that everything is okay before yawning and laying back down, close to me but being sure to not touch my chest. My chest and stomach took the worst of the abuse, I think, and are really sore and gashed up. Not a good sight, trust me._

_"Try to go back to sleep, Lukas." Ben says gently and Lukas nods before laying his head against my arm and closing his eyes, back to sleep in seconds. I smile at him, glad that he's finally safe._

"He's a sweet kid." _Ben says._

_I nod, _"He is. I wish I knew if he had any family left that I could take him back to."

_Ben starts thinking then, and I know it because he lets me see the thoughts. He's trying to think of who Lukas's family could be, going by if Lukas looks like anyone we know._

_Suddenly he freezes on a face and our eyes widen in shock. John Tressel, that's who Lukas looks like; same black hair and brown eyes, same facial features and expressions._

"His wife did get pregnant about six years ago." _Ben says quietly, sorrow in his 'voice'._

_I swallow and turn to Lukas, wondering if I should wake him up to ask him his last name. Why hadn't I thought of that before? That bothers me and I wonder on it, now letting Ben see my thoughts. He watches me carefully as I think and when I finally realize why I hadn't thought to ask before, his eyes slip closed in an almost pained way and I know that my thought hurts him; that I would have to think something like that causes him pain because he's my friend and loves me like a brother._

_I never thought to ask Lukas his last name before because there had always been that little doubt in me that we might not make it out alive, that we would be killed by the Hunters. What good would knowing Lukas's last name be to me if I were to die? I couldn't help him then. And that's what kept me from asking before, that always looming thought that either him or myself could have been killed at any time._

_I swallow as that realization sinks in, that a part of me had always been expecting my death._

_Ben's eyes slowly open again and I see anger and pain in them, and I know that it's for me. He gets up off of the couch, dressed in a pair of my own pajamas; a loose t-shirt and pajama pants, and walks over to the bed, sitting beside me and looking me in the eye._

"If they had killed you, I can promise you that I wouldn't have stayed the same." _He says and I frown at him._

"What do you mean?" _I ask._

"I would have made them pay." _Ben says and I swallow at the look in his eyes. He meant that. If they had killed me, Ben could have very well slaughtered them. And I think that he really would have done it._

"No. If Hunters ever kill me, don't do that to yourself. Let it go and make sure that Amy stays safe." _I tell him, making him narrow his eyes at me._

"What?" _He demands, standing then, _"You're like a brother to me, and if they kill you I'm just supposed to let it go and move on like you were nothing and your death doesn't affect me?"

"Yes. Don't let them push you into becoming what they think we are. You're too good for that." _I tell him, forcing myself to sit up and gritting my teeth against the pain that flares in my chest and stomach. I have to make sure he understands._

"Ty, lay back down." _He says, moving forward to help me lay back down, but he backs off when I show my fangs, a warning sign. I don't want to have to be like this, but he _has_ to listen to me and understand! _

"If I had died, killing the Hunters to avenge my death would be pointless; it wouldn't bring me back and it would only make you the monster they always think we are. It would ruin you, Ben!" _Exhaustion is creeping in on me and my 'voice' reflects it, sounding tired and strained. I haven't even physically spoken and I'm panting, both from the pain from my wounds and my desperation for him to understand._

_He stares at me for a long moment before bowing his head forward in shame and sinking back onto the bed beside me, rubbing his eyes tiredly._

"You're right." _He says quietly, _"I would have done it, too; let them make me the very monster that we fight so hard to prove we aren't."

_My arms are shaking from holding me up and I groan as I reluctantly lay back down, Ben reaching over and helping me lay back. I send him a grateful look and he nods silently._

"Please never let them push you to that, Ben. No matter what they do. God didn't make us to be like that, even though that's what humans persecute us as." _I say tiredly, fighting to keep my eyes open now._

_Ben nods beside me, _"I promise, I won't ever let them push me to that. But Ty, you just don't know how hard it is to see you like this and know that they did it and enjoyed doing it. Knowing that you could have died and there would have been nothing I could do to stop it. It kills me."

_I smile softly and swallow, _"Ben, you're the closest thing to a brother I've ever had or will ever have, and I know that it'd be hard for me to not be the same way if our roles were reversed."

_He chuckles, _"Your faith is stronger than mine, I think you'd have an easier time than me staying on the right path, and I'm proud of you for that."

_I sigh, still smiling, _"Your faith is strong, Ben, but we could always make it stronger."

"Well I'm up for it." _Ben says as he stands again. I raise an eyebrow as he stretches his arms over his head and says to me, _"Now you better get some more sleep, you're going to need it to heal. Good night, Ty."

"Night, Ben. Thank you." _I say as he walks back over to the couch._

_He smiles at me as he lays down, _"What are big brothers for?"

_I chuckle and shake my head slightly in amusement. _"Of course, and what are little brothers for besides getting in trouble and needing their big brother's help?"

_Ben laughs quietly and shrugs, _"Get some sleep little brother."

_I smile and let my eyes fall closed, _"Of course, big brother."

_As I drift off to sleep, I swear that I hear Ben chuckling at me. I fall asleep with a smile on my face._


	12. Chapter 12

_**Chapter 12**_

When Ty next opened his eyes, he saw Amy sitting beside him, holding his hand as she mentally spoke with Ben, who was already up and dressed, all signs of his bed on the couch put away.

Ty smiled weakly, "Ames."

Amy and Ben's attention snapped to him and they both smiled.

"How are you feeling?" Amy asked quietly.

Ty took a second to register how his body felt before trying to speak.

"Better." He said, his voice still hoarse and raspy but it didn't hurt his throat as badly.

"Here." Ben walked over with a black thermos and handed it to Ty. Ty instantly knew what was in it as he opened the top. He glanced at Amy, reluctantly to drink it in front of her.

"If you want I can leave the room while you drink it." Amy offered.

"Just don't want to make you uncomfortable." Ty said quietly. Talking quietly helped his throat.

Amy shook her head, "I'm fine, Ty. Remember, I accepted that you're a vampire a long time ago. Why would this bother me?" She said.

Ty smiled at her gratefully before he put the bottle to his lips and drank thirstily, closing his eyes as he downed the contents of the thermos.

"There's another one after that, so don't think you're done after that one. And I've got two for Lukas as soon as he wakes up." Ben said.

Ty soon finished the thermos and licked his lips as Ben took it away from him. He sighed, "Thank you, Ben."

Ben nodded silently as he reached over and grabbed the second thermos, handing it to Ty.

This time Ty didn't hesitate to open the thermos and place it to his lips, drinking quickly.

"Don't choke yourself. You're drinking so fast." Amy said, frowning at him.

He paused and took a breath, licking his lips, "Sorry. I didn't realize how thirsty I was."

"I can imagine." Amy muttered, eyebrow raised as Ty brought the thermos back to his lips and finished off it's contents. Ben took the two thermoses to the bathroom to wash them out as soon as Ty was finished.

Ty looked at Lukas, seeing that the child was starting to wake up.

Amy watched them both closely, still so scared that she was dreaming and they weren't really there. But when Ty turned and met her eyes, smiling at her, she knew that she wasn't in a dream. He was really back, and they had little Lukas now, too.

"No class today?" Ty asked.

Amy shook her head, "Soraya's taking notes for me in all the classes, I'm playing hookey to take care of you."

Ty smiled softly, "You don't have to do that, Ames."

"Oh yes I do. I leave this room and start panicking that you'll be gone when I get back." Amy said.

Ty raised an eyebrow, "Ames, I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere anymore. The Hunters can't mess with me now, remember? You own me."

Amy winced and Ty shook his head, "Don't be like that. It's not a bad thing."

"Ty, yes it is!" Amy said.

Ben sat back and watched the two, curious to see how they acted together. And to see how Amy would act now that Ty was as badly injured as he was. So far, she'd surpassed his expectations and he was glad that Ty had found her.

_'Maybe it wasn't such a bad mistake that Ty came here.' _Ben thought as he watched Amy lean forward and press her lips to Ty's forehead. He saw the smile on his friend's face and couldn't help but smile himself. They were the picture of a perfect couple.

Lukas stirred and Amy looked over to the small child, smiling as his eyes cracked open and he blinked at her sleepily before smiling softly.

"Are you thirsty, Lukas?" Amy asked gently.

"Yes ma'am." Lukas whispered as he slowly sat up. He wasn't as badly hurt as Ty was, all thanks to Ty; just a few bruises and small cuts, nothing majorly limiting like the large cuts and bruises that Ty sported.

"Here ya go little man, and there's a second one after that." Ben said, handing Lukas a child sized thermos. Lukas smiled at him gratefully before up-ending the thermos, drinking as quickly as Ty had. Ty watched him carefully to be sure he wouldn't choke.

_"At the compound they must have had to scarf down what little blood they could get." _Ben said to Amy as they watched Lukas finish the first thermos and hold it out. Amy took it as Ben handed the child his second thermos.

_"Everything about that place just enrages me." _Amy said back, glancing at Ty and again seeing the cut on his cheek and the split in his lip, plus the darkness around his right eye that was slowly fading away. Seeing him so beat up just put fire in her blood and she hated that there was nothing she could do to take back what had been done to him.

Ty felt her eyes on him and looked to her, smiling at her softly. She forced a smile back and he saw the pain in her eyes. He reached out and took her hand, already feeling a little stronger after the meal he'd had.

_"I'm going to be fine, Ames. Just give me a few days to heal." _Ty told her, trying to reassure her.

_"I know, but I hate that there's nothing I can do. I mean, if I had found you faster you wouldn't be this badly hurt!" _She told him and his eyes widened at the guilt that he felt in her.

_"You're kidding me, right?" _He asked, his voice flat.

Amy shook her head and Ty closed his eyes briefly before opening them again and squeezing her hand to bring her attention back to him. Neither of them noticed that Lukas had finished his second thermos and that he and Ben were watching their silent exchange with curious eyes, Ben smiling softly and Lukas wondering what was going on but feeling that whatever it was was important.

_"Ty, how can I not feel guilty? We had went out as a group when you were kidnapped and it took me too long to realize that you'd been taken. If I'd reacted sooner then there's a chance we could have stopped you from even being taken!" _Amy said and looked down in shame, unable to meet Ty's eyes.

Ty's eyes were wide and he shook his head, forcing himself to sit up, biting down on his lower lip as pain ripped through him. But still he sat up and put an arm around Amy, gently pulling her closer to him and burying his face into her neck, nuzzling her.

_"Amy, please don't feel like that. It was going to happen, I knew it was. I didn't know it was going to happen that day exactly, but I knew ever since my parents died that some day the Hunters would get their hands on me. Until I met you, I figured that they'd kill me, but you didn't let that happen. You fought for me, just like you said you would." _Ty said and Amy bit her lower lip, tears in her eyes.

_"I just wish I could go back and stop it from happening." _She said quietly, carefully putting her arms around him and holding him close.

By now, Ben had lead Lukas out of the room, going to the bathroom to help the child brush his teeth. He felt that Ty and Amy needed their privacy.

_"I know you do, Ames. But there's nothing that you could have done. You'd have just gotten hurt if you'd been there." _Ty told her. Amy shook her head.

_"I could have helped you." _She said stubbornly, knowing that she could have.

Ty watched her closely a long moment before sighing, _"Ames, I'm going to tell you something, okay? Something that just kills me every single time that I think of it."_

Amy frowned at him, _"What do you mean?"_

Ty stayed silent for a long moment before letting out a breath and meeting Amy's eyes. She saw the pain and sadness in his eyes and knew that it wasn't from the wounds he was suffering from. This was a deeper, longstanding pain that had been ripping him apart for years.

_"What is it, Ty?" _Amy asked, placing a hand to his cheek gently. Ty couldn't look at her and tears were slowly filling his eyes, shocking Amy. She wiped away a few stray tears as they slipped gently down his cheeks.

Seeing Ty cry... This was something very bad and Amy prayed that she was strong enough for what he was about to say. She had no clue what it was he wanted to tell her.

Finally, he took in a shaky breath and wiped his eyes and face dry before forcing himself to meet her eyes. His 'voice' when he told her was full of pain and anguish and had Amy's eyes widening in disbelief and shock.

_"Ames... My parents' deaths? They were my fault..."_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Chapter 13**_

Amy stared at Ty, unable to believe what she had just heard. He looked at her worriedly, wondering what she was thinking but refusing to invade her privacy. He was scared of what he'd see if he did...

Finally Amy shook herself from her daze, _"What are you talking about? There's no way that's true!"_

_"But it is true! The whole reason that the Hunters found my family that day was because of me!" _Ty said and looked away in shame, self loathing and anguish clear in his features.

_"How? Prove it." _Amy challenged him, taking his hand and squeezing gently to show her support of him, to show him that she wasn't going to back away slowly and take of running away from him.

Ty licked his lips nervously, _"It was my fault because I had snuck out after dark, knowing that I wasn't suppose to because Hunters had been spotted in the area. A friend of mine had called, extremely drunk, and asked me to come pick him up, he needed a ride to another friend's house that he was going to stay at so that he wouldn't get in trouble with his parents for drinking. So I figured it'd be no big deal, go and pick him up, drop him off, and then go back to bed myself. It was around midnight when he called and woke me up. He was human and could have found another way home, but I didn't want to do that to him, he'd come to me for help and I was too arrogant to see the danger I was putting my family in by leaving the house that night to go help him." _Ty chuckled bitterly and shook his head at his younger self, wishing so badly that he could go back and change what he'd done.

Amy tilted her head, _"How was it arrogant of you to want to help your friend?"_

Ty looked up at her with bitterly amused eyes, the small smile on his face false and full of self loathing, _"Because I was a sixteen year old male vampire, who could hurt me? I was nearly grown, those Hunters wouldn't know what hit them if they dared to try and attack me. I'd make them think twice before even thinking of going after another vampire."_

That Amy understood, she supposed. Being on a high horse where you were this unstoppable thing that no one could touch or hurt, that you were above your enemies. That had been how Ty had felt before, and he'd been proven wrong in the worst way possible.

Amy swallowed, _"What happened after you snuck out, Ty?"_

Ty took another second to regain himself before looking up and meeting her eyes again, _"It got worse after I went to get him. He convinced me to have a few drinks and of course I took them. It didn't take much work on his part to convince me. While we were living it up, drinking ourselves sick in a part of the town park that no one went to, two Hunters had found us. They knew who I was, _what_ I was, and were going to wait until I was alone to jump me until they realized that I'd lead them to my home and they could get a bigger kill. And of course that's just what I did. I wasn't wasted when I went home that night, human alcohol does nothing for me, but I still didn't notice them following me. I was literally right beside my house, about to go up on the porch, when I finally realized that they were there. And by that time, it was too late..."_

Ty trailed off and shook his head, as if trying to shake off the memory. He trembled once and Amy leaned forward, putting her arms around him and pressing her lips gently to his cheek. He buried his face in her neck and she felt wetness hit her skin.

_"Ty, you didn't know that was going to happen. You can't blame yourself for that." _Amy said gently, carefully rubbing his back, hoping to soothe him.

_"Amy, I shouldn't have taken the risk of going out with Hunters around! I took the risk, and look what happened because of it! My Mom and Dad died to keep me alive!" _Ty said and his hands curled into fists as his anger at himself boiled up.

Amy pulled back and Ty sat up again, looking at her closely with tears still in his eyes and rolling free.

Now Amy spoke physically, "Ty, I love you and you know this, and I hope that you know that I would _never_ lie to you." Amy waited until Ty had nodded that he knew before she continued, "Then I hope that you'll listen to me when I tell you to let this guilt go, it's not your fault that that happened. You left that house with the intentions of helping your friend out, not getting followed home by a pair of psychopaths."

"I lead them to my family, Amy. I may as well have signed their death certificates myself!" Ty said, the pain in his eyes doubling.

"No, and if you don't see that you're going to continue to carry this pointless guilt. You were sixteen, Ty. Excuse me for saying that most sixteen year olds don't think twice about what they're doing until it's too late. Please, let this guilt go. Stop hurting yourself." Amy whispered, her eyes pleading with Ty.

Ty shook his head, "I can't, Ames. It's my fault."

"No baby, it isn't. I'm willing to bet every penny I have _and _Sundance that your parents are in Heaven looking down wanting you to forget this guilt because you _should not_ have it!" Amy said.

Ty looked down and slipped into thought, Amy watching him anxiously. She couldn't stand that he had been carrying this guilt for so long. He had to let it go, there was no reason for him to carry it!

"Ty?" She whispered.

Ty finally let out a shaky breath and looked up at her, "Pray with me, please?"

Amy smiled at him lovingly, "Of course, Ty."

Ty smiled at her gratefully and squeezed her hand gently.

"Do you want to lead it?" Amy whispered.

Ty looked away sheepishly, "Could you, please? I've carried this for so long, I'm not sure what to say."

Amy nodded, "Okay, I will."

She carefully moved closer to Ty and put her forehead to his, smiling at him softly. He smiled back and closed his eyes as she did. She said the prayer silently, only letting him and the Lord hear it.

_"Lord, we come to You know to ask for Your blessing of peace. Please help Ty to realize that he doesn't need this guilt, that he didn't doom his family. Bless him with your peace and let him feel the love You and his family have for him, so that his wounds can heal and he can be whole again. Thank You, Lord. In Your heavenly name we pray, Amen."_

_**H**_

_As Amy prays for me, I can feel more tears burn my eyes. That someone could love me so much, even after discovering what I am and the worst of my past... I can't thank the Lord enough. I don't deserve to be loved so much._

_As she finishes, she presses her lips to mine and I kiss her back, desperate to feel her love again. She carefully puts an arm around my shoulders and runs her fingers into my hair. I groan softly in appreciation; any gentle touch after what I went through is such a nice thing to feel._

_I reluctantly break our kiss and she sits back, smiling at me with so much love in her eyes. _

_I sigh and whisper to her, _"Thank you, Ames. You are so much more than I deserve."

_She shakes her head and steals a quick kiss before saying, aloud, "No, Ty, you deserve so much more than me, I'm just so blessed to have your heart."_

_I smile, at a loss for words after that one. I carefully shift around, wincing at the all too familiar stabs of pain, until I can lay my head in Amy's lap. She smiles down at me and gently rakes her fingers through my hair._

_It's so soothing, I could fall back to sleep so easily, and I'm pretty sure Amy realizes this as she contines the motion. Soon, I'm fighting to keep my eyes open._

_"Go back to sleep, Ty. I love you." She whispers and I smile at her sleepily._

_"I love you too, Ames." I whisper and let my eyes slip closed, falling to sleep in her lap._

_**H**_

As Ty fell asleep, Amy leaned down and kissed his forehead gently.

She looked up as Ben and Lukas came out of the bathroom.

"Is the mushy over?" Lukas asked, eyeing Amy and Ty closely. He saw that Ty was back asleep and turned his attention to Amy.

Amy laughed quietly, "Yes, the mushy is over, Lukas."

"Okay. I didn't know it was mushy stuff you were doing until Ben told me." Lukas said, going over to the couch with Ben and sitting down to watch cartoons.

"I didn't say it was mushy, I said that you two were bonding again after being apart." Ben said, grinning at Amy. She smiled back at him.

"Mushy stuff." Lukas clarified with a nod of his head and Ben and Amy both started laughing.

Ty shifted in her lap and Amy quieted, putting a hand over her mouth to keep from waking Ty. He needed his sleep.

But, she did turn to Ben and asked him, again switching to their silent way of talking, _"Did you know by chance how Ty's parents passed away?"_

Ben frowned and looked closely at Ty, seeing the dry tear trails on his friend's cheeks and catching the scent of his tears. He sighed and shook his head sadly, _"Did he tell you how he thinks their deaths were his fault?"_

Amy nodded, _"Just now."_

_"It was not his fault! But try getting him to believe that, it's impossible! He's constantly beating himself up over what happened. Right after it happened, he was in the hospital after managing to escape the Hunters that killed his folks and he nearly starved himself to death in the hospital!" _Ben said, watching Ty sadly.

Lukas didn't notice the new silent conversation going on around him. He instead watched his cartoons and smiled to himself as Tom the cat tried to bash Jerry the mouse with a large mallet, instead hitting his own tail from the mouse's clever trick.

_"Why? How did you guys keep him from starving with the nurses and doctors around?" _Amy asked, her eyes widening in shock.

_"There are a few hospitals strictly for vampires. They're well hidden from the Hunters. And the doctors had to end up forcing IVs on Ty and putting the blood in him that way." _Ben said, sadly watching his sleeping friend.

_"Poor Ty. I wish he would realize that it wasn't his fault. We prayed for him, so I pray that soon he'll be free of this guilt." _Amy said.

Ben smiled at her softly, _"I'm glad that he met you, Amy. You care for him more than any other girl ever could, and that's such a relief to me."_

Amy smiled softly, _"He's the love of my life, I thank God for him every day."_

_"I'm glad, Ames. I know he loves you more than life itself. He'd die for you without a second thought." _Ben said, leaning back into the couch and looking at the TV, but not paying attention to it.

Lukas giggled at something on the cartoon and Amy and Ben smiled at the sound, hoping that it meant he'd be better sooner than they had thought he'd be.

Ben turned his head again to look at Amy before his eyes again fell to the sleeping vampire she cradled in her lap, _"With Ty and me, we've always been best friends. We met as babies and grew up together, we're like brothers. I guess you could say that I'm Ty's older brother because I'm older than him by seven months. I won't lie, I look at him as both my best friend and my little brother and if you hurt him or threaten him I won't hesitate to put you down. Ty's the same way for me."_

_"I'm glad. It makes me happy that you and Ty have such a strong bond. You coming when you did was such a blessing, Ben. We never would have found Ty without you." _Amy said, smiling gratefully at the older vampire.

He smiled softly, _"I think you would have without me, Ames. I just came along and made things a little bit easier."_

_"You say that, but I'm still so glad that I got to meet you and that you were here for Ty." _Amy said.

Ben looked out of the window, _"I'll always be there for him, he's my little brother. And I'll always be there if you need me too, Ames. Don't think I'm just going to focus directly on Ty now that I'm here."_

_"I'm always here if you need me too, Ben." _Amy told him honestly.

Ben grinned at her, _"Since you and Ty are so close and I'm fairly certain that you'll get married one day, I can consider you my little sister."_

Amy grinned back at him, _"That sounds perfect to me, big brother."_

They both laughed quietly and Lukas sent them looks before raising an eyebrow at them.

"Okay you two," he said, "No more mushy stuff."

Exchanging looks of surprise, Amy and Ben then burst out into laughter, startling Ty awake and making Lukas give them flat looks with his eyes half lidded and his lips pursed.

Ty looked between the three in alarm, wondering what he'd missed while he'd been asleep.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Chapter 14**_

"No! Get that away from me!"

"Just one more bite, it won't hurt you."

"Too full, too full!"

Amy laughed, a spoon full of warm soup still in her hand as she tried to get Ty, who was propped up on large pillows, to finish it. He had clamped a hand over his mouth and was trying his best at giving her puppy eyes, trying to stop her from feeding him anymore.

"Come on Ames, have mercy on the guy. You've fed him how many bowls of soup in the last hour?" Ben called from the couch, where he and Lukas were watching a movie with Matt and Soraya.

"Good luck with that, this is Amy we're talking about here. Take it like a man, Ty!" Matt called and even Ty laughed at that, though he was careful to keep his hand over his mouth.

"I'm done taking it like a man, someone come help me!" Ty called back and Ben and Matt grinned at him, Soraya laughing and Lukas peeking over the side of the couch to look at Ty and Amy curiously. He knew that there was no way Amy would really hurt Ty, but that didn't mean he didn't worry about Ty, living in a school with nothing but humans.

Amy rolled her eyes playfully and tried pulling down Ty's hand. He batted his eyes at her and she laughed, putting the spoon back into the bowl.

"Now let's take this away from you and send it far, far away." Ty said, seizing his opportunity and taking the bowl and putting it on his bedside table, carefully pushing it to the far side of the table and out of Amy's reach.

"Fine, but you're eating again at supper." Amy warned him.

He frowned, "And how long until then?"

Amy looked at the clock on her phone, "Six hours."

Ty groaned, "That soon?"

Amy laughed, "It'll help you get better faster."

Ty stuck out his tongue, _"You're trying to make me fat."_

At that, Amy nearly fell off of the bed from laughing so hard and Ty grinned at her, amused. Ben and the others looked over, wondering what had been so funny. Finally, Lukas decided to end the mystery.

"What's so funny?" He called to the couple on the bed.

Amy turned to them and pointed at Ty accusingly, "He said I'm trying to make him fat."

Ben, Matt, and Soraya burst out laughing while Lukas looked confused.

"Why would you do that? If you love someone don't you love them how they are?" He asked.

"Yes, Lukas, and I do love Ty how he is. He's joking, he knows that I'm not trying to make him fat." Amy said.

"Don't listen to her, Lukas! She's lying to you!" Ty called.

Lukas's eyes widened and he looked between Amy and Ty worriedly.

"Stop lying to that baby!" Amy said, putting her hands on her hips to keep herself from playfully swatting Ty's arm. She didn't want to reopen any of his injuries.

Ty laughed, "I'm sorry, Lukas, I'm just kidding, she's not trying to fatten me up."

"Thank you." Amy said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Nope, she wants me slim and sexy." Ty said playfully and everyone laughed as Amy looked at him in shock before glaring at him playfully and sticking out her tongue before standing and walking away, going to the couch and plopping down beside Ben.

"Ames, I'm kidding baby. Come back." Ty said, laughing.

Amy stuck her tongue out at him again in reply and leaned back into the couch, closing her eyes with a playful grin on her face.

"Ames, I'm getting cold." Ty called, grinning as he saw Amy twitch as she almost stood to come back to him before making herself refuse the impulse.

Caring for him had become second nature to her, it was hard to refuse his 'call for help', even if she knew that it was fake.

Ben grinned at Ty, _"That almost worked and she knows you're not cold. You lucky dog, having someone that cares for you that much."_

_"Tell me about it, I'm a very blessed man." _Ty said, smiling back at his friend before looking back at Amy. She was watching him from the corner of her eye and he leaned back into the pillows supporting him, knowing she'd come back to him in a minute. He smiled invitingly to help entice her back and she sighed dramatically before standing and going back to him.

He shifted over and looked up at her hopefully, smiling happily as she obliged him by sitting beside him and carefully snuggling into his side. He smiled at her happily and pressed a kiss to her forehead. She smiled back at him, happy to be back in his arms.

He nuzzled her, _"I love you, Ames."_

She smiled at him, _"I love you too, Ty."_

_**H**_

"So let me get this straight, you guys are seniors?" Ben asked Amy the next evening as she came by after class to check on Ty and bring him his work that he'd have to do.

Ben had went out and got a doctor's note for him from a vampiric doctor, explaining that Ty had been in the hospital sick and would need a few more days before he could return to class.

"Yep. Last year of high school." Amy said.

"Wow, congratulations. Are you going to college?" Ben asked.

Amy shrugged, "I've been accepted to one but I don't know."

"Why?" Ben asked.

Ty, who had been looking over the work he'd missed, spoke then without lifting his head, "Going to college is totally your choice, Ames. You don't have to, really. You're family breeds competition horses and mine did before the accident, so I still own the stables and horses we had. So, by right-"

Amy cut him out, "Ty, I dare you to say that since I own you I own what you own. Hurt or not, I will slug you." She said warningly.

Ty shut up at that and Ben shook his head at his friend.

"Just because I had to sign some paperwork to get you away from those stupid Hunters means nothing, Ty. You are _not _a possession to be owned and I'm pretty sure that I've said this before to Ashley the day I met you." Amy said.

Ty grinned then and looked up, "You did, didn't you? I remember that, the day I met you you told me that she'd claimed me as hers and you'd told her that I wasn't something to be owned. When you told me that, it honestly made me wonder for a second if she was a Hunter, since she was saying that she owned me. It made me mad for a second, too."

Amy tilted her head, "I bet it would, going through life avoiding some crazy people who want to sell you as a possession and then come here and a girl immediately talks about you like you're a possession? Yeah, that would rub me the wrong way."

Ty chuckled, "Oh it did. I wasn't happy about her thinking of me like that."

"So be honest, what did you think of Amy when she defended you without even having met you yet?" Ben asked.

Ty paused in flipping over a sheet of paper, narrowing his eyes in thought as he remembered, "I remember that it drew me to her immediately."

"So that's what made you notice me?" Amy joked.

Ty chuckled, "Oh I noticed you the second I walked into the room. I caught your scent at the door so when I got into the room I looked around and found you. I was very happy when the teacher put me sitting beside you."

Ben smiled, "I haven't heard the story of how you two met, is that it?"

"Basically." Amy said, grinning.

Ty nodded his head, "Yeah, basically. The teacher was kind enough to assign Amy to lead me around the school that day and as it turned out we had the same schedule."

"So let me get this straight, you come to this school on a hunch that there's something here waiting for you and then the moment you walk into class the first day you met Amy?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ty grinned at him, "And you tried so hard to keep me from coming here."

"Well how was I suppose to know you'd meet Amy? I was too scared you were going to get yourself killed!" Ben said.

"Well I didn't, did I?" Ty said, smirking.

"You still lost the bet we made that day." Ben shot back.

"Damn." Ty shook his head and looked back down at his work.

Amy looked at him in shock, "Did you just cuss?"

He blinked as realization set in, "Yep."

Ben and Amy burst out laughing as Ty blinked at the stack of papers in his lap one more time before shaking his head and rubbing a hand over his face.

"It's been a longer day than I thought." He muttered.

Amy leaned over and kissed his cheek, "Everyone slips every now and then."

Ty shrugged, "What can I say, I hate losing."

"What was the bet about?" Amy asked.

"I bet him one of my horses that the Hunters wouldn't catch me." Ty said.

"Oooh." Amy said.

"Yep, so now that nice little pinto colt of yours that I wanted? He's mine." Ben said, grinning.

Ty didn't react for a few minutes before he suddenly fell back into his pillows, "Dammit!"

"What?" Amy asked, exchanging an alarmed glance with Ben.

"I just remembered that I made that same bet with another friend of ours named Garrett." Ty muttered, glaring at the ceiling over his head.

"Which horse did you bet him?" Ben asked, grinning again.

"The black filly that was born last summer." Ty muttered.

Ben snickered and Ty shot him a dirty look.

Amy watched the two before smiling to herself. How much more entertaining her life had become since she'd met not only one, but two vampires.

**One more chapter to go!**


	15. Chapter 15

_**Chapter 15**_

_It's been a few days since they rescued me. I can finally move without hurting and I can get up and walk around. The bruises are gone and the gashes have turned in to small cuts; they're almost completely gone._

_Also, the most amazing thing has happened..._

_I don't carry that guilt anymore, and I know that I have Amy and Ben to thank for that. They've pushed me to pray about my guilt, to ask the Lord for help with it, and they've prayed with me more than once._

_Last night I had a dream of my parents, telling me that they loved me and were proud of me. I woke up with tears; it was so real. I thought I would wake up and they would be there..._

_It helped me so much, and now thanks to God and Amy and Ben, I don't feel guilty anymore. I feel so free after losing all of that guilt. It's an amazing feeling._

_Now that I've healed, I can finally start going to class again. I haven't exactly missed it, but I know I need to go if I want to graduate, which I do. I may not be looking at going to college, even though I've been told time and time again that I'd enjoy it... Who knows, I might look into it, I don't know._

_Now I'm just laying here with Amy beside me, she's finally staying the night with me again. Lukas and Ben are out somewhere with Soraya and Matt, they'll all be back in a few hours. I make sure to text Ben every so often to make sure things are going ok and that he and Lukas stay with Soraya and Matt and not leave their sides. I hate that they have to do that, but with Hunters around and knowing what Ben is now, I don't want to take any chances of him being put through what I had to go through._

_Amy starts shifting beside me and I look at her curiously. We'd been laying down for a few hours, both just drifting in and out of sleep, and I guess Ames is waking up._

_Soon, her eyes slip open and she smiles at me, "Did you sleep well?"_

_I nod, "Best sleep I've had in a long time."_

_She smiles and pushes herself closer to me, making me smile. I've missed this so much..._

_**H**_

Amy started tracing small hearts over Ty's chest, careful to avoid the few scratches that he still had across his chest. They were small and would be gone in the next day or so. She was so glad, soon there'd be no physical trace of the abuse he'd went through. But would there be mentally?

That had been bothering Amy for awhile; would Ty bear any mental scars from his ordeal?

_'Surely.' _She thought to herself.

"Surely what?" Ty muttered lazily, eyes closed and his head tilted toward her on his pillow.

Amy bit her lower lip and his eyes slowly opened to look at her, an eyebrow raising.

"Well, I was just wondering if what you went through would change you any. Not physically, but well, mentally." Amy said hesitantly.

Ty hummed in thought, "I've actually wondered that myself, how much differently I'd see things after going through that with the Hunters. But, in all honesty Ames, I don't see anything differently except that now I'm technically _really _yours, and that doesn't bother me at all."

Amy opened her mouth to argue and Ty stopped her.

"Don't go at me again with that 'I don't own you' stuff, Ames. You have the paperwork, and we both know it. I don't mind it, Ames. In all honesty, it keeps me safe from the Hunters. And I guess that since I always knew that some day the Hunters would get me and put me through a little piece of Hell, it doesn't change how I see the world or anything because I always knew what to expect." Ty said, shrugging.

Amy sat up and he watched her curiously. She leaned over him and pressed her lips to his. He let his eyes slip closed again and kissed her back.

"I love you, Ty." Amy whispered.

"I love you too, Ames." Ty whispered back and his eyes slipped half way open and he smiled at her. She smiled back and ran her fingers into his hair, making him groan softly in content at the gentle touch.

"Here, roll over." Amy said, moving away from him.

Knowing what she was going to do, Ty smiled as he rolled onto his stomach. Even though he knew what she was doing, he still trembled as she laid her hands palm down on his back and started gently massaging. He groaned softly in content.

"Feel good?" She whispered.

Ty smiled, eyes closed and his cheek resting on his arm, "You know it, Ames."

Amy leaned down and pressed a kiss to the side of his neck, making Ty tremble again, "I'm glad." She whispered.

Ty lay silently and let himself relax under her hands, nearly drifting back off asleep as she moved her hands over his skin.

When she suddenly fluttered her fingers over his sides, Ty jerked and snickered, turning onto his back quickly, instinctively. She laughed at him as he glared at her playfully.

"No tickling." He said sternly.

"Ah, poor baby. I'm sorry." She said sweetly and he chuckled.

"Sure, you say that so I'll drop my guard again." Ty said, reluctantly turning back onto his stomach. He snickered and tensed as, sure enough, Amy teasingly stroked her nails gently down his sides. He bit down on his lower lip as she stroked a little harder, pressing gently into his sides with her fingertips.

"Ames, not fair. You know how ticklish I am." Ty said, snickering as she continued the touch.

"It's cute." Amy said.

"Is not!" Ty said and let out a laugh as she pressed a little harder. He jerked back onto his back and pulled his covers over his body, watching her closely.

She laughed, "I'm sorry, Ty. It is cute though, so I can't help it."

"How is it cute?" Ty asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"I don't know, it just is." Amy said, laying back down beside him. He reluctanly shifted the covers and pulled her close, shifting lower in the bed so that he could bury his face in her neck. He let out a sigh of content.

Amy held him close, _"I love you, Ty."_

Ty smiled softly against her skin, _"I love you more, Ames, with all my heart and soul."_

Amy squeezed him gently in a hug, _"I'm so glad, Ty. I'll never let someone take you away again."_

Ty let his eyes open halfway, _"Thank you, Ames. I never want to be away from you again."_

_"Never again. The Hunters can't go after you now." _Amy said.

Ty bit his lip gently in thought, _"True. But there are other things, Ames."_

Amy pulled back from him slightly and looked down to meet his eyes, frowning, _"Ty, what else could threaten a vampire?" _

Ty let out a breath, _"Oh, there's a few things."_

Amy raised an eyebrow, _"Explain."_

Ty looked off to the side and chewed gently on his lower lip, contemplating if he should tell her or not, _"Well..."_

_**H**_

"Look at that, Ben!" Lukas gasped, pressing his face close to the cage of a pair of dwarf rabbits at a local pet store. Ben chuckled from where he stood behind the child, watching Lukas closely. This would be Lukas's last day with them. In about another hour, they'd go pick up Ty and Amy from the school and all of them would go together to take Lukas to his remaining family members that Ben had tracked down; and Aunt and Uncle who had a young boy around Lukas's age.

They'd been so happy to hear that little Lukas was alive, having thought him dead for months after finding the bodies of his parents. They were to be reunited with their nephew that evening, and it was a surprise for Lukas.

Matt and Soraya stood beside Ben, also watching little Lukas. They were going to miss the little guy, but would be so glad to see him returned to his family.

"Soraya, Matt, have you ever had a bunny?" Lukas asked, turning away from the rabbits' cage and looking at the two curiously.

"I had one when I was about your age." Matt said.

"What was it's name?" Lukas asked eagerly.

"His name was Muppet, actually." Matt said, grinning.

"That's cool, did he look like them?" Lukas pointed to the two rabbits behind him.

Matt shook his head, "No, he was a big brown rabbit with really long floppy ears."

"I remember him now! He was so sweet!" Soraya said.

"That was only because you're a girl, if you were a boy and tried to so much as touch that rabbit he went evil on you." Matt muttered.

"What would he do?" Lukas asked.

"He'd bite or scratch you." Matt said.

Lukas frowned, "Ow."

"Yeah, definitely ow." Matt agreed.

The group started walking again, Lukas staying close to Ben's side, as they headed towards the toy store a few doors down from the pet shop. Soon, Lukas was engrossed in looking at all the new toys and wasn't paying attention to the others, giving them a chance to talk.

"When do we meet with his aunt?" Soraya whispered to Ben.

"We meet with Judy and Markus at seven." Ben said.

"It's almost five thirty now." Soraya said, looking at her cell phone.

Matt watched Lukas closely as he started talking to another boy about a toy gun, "Markus, that's not a name you hear very often anymore." He said.

"Yes, well, Markus was born in 1750's Russia so..." Ben trailed off as Matt and Soraya looked at him with wide eyes.

"So he's a much older vampire than you?" Matt asked quietly.

"Very much so. He looks like he's in his late thirties though, so don't comment." Ben said.

"Right, of course not." Soraya said, still a little shocked. Ben chuckled at her and Matt and turned to Lukas as the child ran up to him.

"What is it, little man?" He asked, kneeling down beside Lukas as he saw the fear in the child's eyes. Lukas didn't answer, only stared off at something over Ben's shoulder.

Looking himself, Ben felt his eyes widen in shock and fear.

Three men sat at a table across the mall, dark sunglasses over their eyes as they watched him and Lukas closely. They had nothing to eat sitting in front of them, even though they sat in front of a pizzeria, and each one was dressed in dark pants and black t-shirts.

Ben wasted no time in sweeping Lukas up and balancing him on his hip, motioning to Soraya and Matt that it was time to go.

"What is it?" Matt asked in alarm as they walked at a deliberately calm pace towards the doors.

Lukas had buried his face in Ben's neck to keep from looking over the older vampire's shoulder at the three men as they watched them walk away.

"Ben?" Soraya asked.

"I'll tell you when we get in the truck. Let's just get out of here, now!" Ben said quietly and Matt and Soraya exchanged worried glances. What was going on now?

They exitted the mall and went to Ben's truck, Lukas sitting in back with Soraya while Ben and Matt took the front seats.

"There we're in the truck, now would you tell us what's going on?" Matt asked as Ben started the truck and pulled out of the parking spot, slipping a pair of sunglasses over his eyes as he drove towards the sunset.

"Those men that were sitting at that table and watching us? Yeah they are really bad news, Ty really needs to know they're around." Ben said.

"Hunters?" Soraya asked.

"Worse." Ben muttered.

Matt and Soraya exchanged worried glances.

"What's worse than Hunters?" Soraya asked hesitantly. Beside her, Lukas whimpered and moved closer to her. She put a comforting arm around his shoulders and Ben shook his head, driving quickly back to the school and refusing to say another word until they reached Ty and Amy.

"Call ahead and tell them to be ready when we get there. I'm going to call Judy when we get there and have her meet us early." Ben said.

Confused and worried, Matt pulled out his phone and called Ty's cell, doing as Ben had asked him to.

When they reached the school a few minutes later, Ty and Amy were just coming out of the building to meet them. They climbed into the back seat with Lukas, Soraya moving up to sit between Ben and Matt up front.

"What is it?" Ty asked as he pulled on his seatbelt, sensing the change in his friend and in Lukas, who had snuggled into his side fearfully.

Ben had pulled off his sunglasses and met Ty's eyes in the rearview mirror. Ty's eyes widened as he and Ben had a silent discussion, Lukas apparently peeking in on what they were saying and not liking what he was hearing.

"Ty? Ben?" Amy asked, frowning as Ben started to drive, him and Ty still in a conversation that Amy, Matt, and Soraya couldn't listen in on.

"Hey, are you going to tell us or not?" Soraya finally asked.

"No." Ben said quietly.

"Why not?" Matt asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Hopefully you won't have to know." Ty muttered, taking Amy's hand and squeezing gently. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it again as Ty sent her a look, one that clearly asked for the subject to be dropped, he didn't want to think on it anymore.

The ride to meet up with Lukas's aunt and uncle was silent and tense, the vampires in the vehicle knowing that the humans with them didn't like not being let in on what was going on.

Reaching the meeting place, Ben pulled up and parked, keeping a close eye on what was going on around them as he waited for Judy and Markus to pull up at the park and pick up Lukas.

"What are we doing here?" Lukas asked, lifting himself enough to see out of the window and see children swinging on swings and running as they played on the playground equipment.

"You'll know in just a second, little bud." Ben said, his eyes snapping to a black Honda Accord that was pulling in to park beside them.

A woman with long black hair and a man with short brown hair and goatee got out of the car and Lukas gasped as he saw them, his little face lighting up.

"Aunt Judy! Uncle Markus!" He called as Ty opened the door and stepped out, turning back to help Lukas down from the truck. The child ran to his aunt and uncle, who dropped down and hugged him tightly, tears rolling down his aunt's face as she held him close.

Markus stood first and approached the small group that had gathered beside Ben's truck, shaking the three boys' hands and bowing to Amy and Soraya.

"Thank you for bringing him home to us." Markus said, a Russian lilt to his voice.

"Of course, we're glad we were able to bring him home to you." Ty said, Ben nodding beside him.

Markus eyed Ty closely, "From what I understand, you've had quite an experience recently?"

Ty nodded, "Yes sir, the Hunters took me. It's true." He said.

Markus shook his head sadly, "It is good to see you standing here, to know that they didn't kill you." He said.

"They wanted to." Ty said and let his eyes fall to the ground at the memory of Donovan trying to stab him and kill him. Amy cautiously took his hand, unsure of how she was supposed to act towards him around Judy and Markus, and he squeezed her hand gently, smiling at her lovingly.

Markus must have caught a look in Ty's eyes. He smiled softly and looked to Amy curiously.

Judy came up to them then, holding Lukas. "Thank you so much, what can we do to make it up to you?" She asked.

"You don't have to do anything, we're just glad that you have him back." Ben said.

Judy smiled at the group of teens in front of her before her eyes moved to focus on Ty. He met her eyes evenly.

"I'm glad you escaped them, Ty. They had no right to take you." Judy whispered.

"It's over now, they can't come after me anymore." Ty said.

"How exactly did you get away from them?" Markus asked.

Ty looked to Amy, smiling at her lovingly as she grimaced.

"She bought you from them?" Judy asked, eyes widening.

Ty nodded, "And Matt and Soraya helped her buy Lukas from them."

At that, Soraya reluctanly held out Lukas's papers, not wanting to offend his family. Markus took them and glared at them venomously, making Soraya flinch. He lifted his eyes from the papers to smile kindly at her, Matt, and Amy.

"Thank you." He said.

"It shouldn't have had to happen like that. They never should have took Lukas or hurt his parents." Soraya said quietly, tears in her eyes at the thought.

"Yes, but we live in an imperfect world, it is up to us to make it what we can." Markus said, Judy nodding beside him.

In her arms, little Lukas had fallen asleep.

_**H**_

That night, Amy curled up beside Ty in his bed, Ben already asleep on the couch. He knew what she was going to ask him; she'd been thinking about it since his and Ben's conversation.

_"Are you going to tell me what it was you and Ben were discussing?" _She finally asked.

Ty let out a breath. He'd known it was coming, but that didn't mean he wanted to talk about it.

_"Remember the creatures I told you about today?" _He asked her hesitantly.

_"Rippers?" _Amy asked, narrowing her eyes at him as he looked up at the ceiling.

_"Yes... Ben saw a group of them today while they were at the mall. They were watching him and Lukas." _Ty said.

Amy's eyes widened, _"They won't go after either of them, will they?"_

_"What worries Ben is that one of the Rippers looked familiar, like someone we used to know." _Ty said.

_"What does that mean?" _Amy asked.

Ty sighed, _"It means he's worried that they're after me. He always puts me before himself, and he shouldn't. They could just as easily have been targetting him there in the mall, or even Lukas."_

_"Why would they be after you, Ty?" _Amy asked, her heart pounding in her chest.

_"Calm yourself, love. They could be just passing through. They have no reason to be after me, Ben just worries about me too much." _Ty told her, soothingly rubbing her arm.

Amy's heart slowly calmed at his touch and she sighed, snuggling closer to him. He put his arm around her and pressed his lips to his forehead.

_"They aren't going to come after me, Ames. Go to sleep, okay? I love you, good night." _

Amy swallowed, _"I love you too, Ty, good night." _

As Ty drifted off to sleep beside her, Amy tried to force herself to believe that it hadn't been red eyes that she'd seen outside Ty's window.

_**End**_

**Yes, this one has a sequel too. It'll be up soon I hope.**


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